Originally posted by darmstadt
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Why Does the EU Get Such a Bad Rap?
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“The period of the disintegration of the European Union has begun. And the first vessel to have departed is Britain” -
Telegraph link...
Claim
The EU’s accounts haven’t been signed off for years.
Conclusion
Auditors say the accounts are accurate and have been since 2007. But they record significant errors in how money is paid, and this has been the case since 1995.
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/ftu/pdf/en/FTU_1.3.12.pdf
http://www.eca.europa.eu/Lists/ECADo...EN.pdf#page=13
http://www.eca.europa.eu/Lists/ECADo...N.PDF#page=120
http://www.eca.europa.eu/Lists/ECADo...EN.pdf#page=11
Error is not always the same as fraud or waste
Just because some money is paid in error doesn’t mean people all the people involved have deliberately tried to defraud the EU.
A small minority of the cases that the auditors look at each year involve suspected fraud. The UK’s Public Accounts Committee of MPs has concluded for years that the complexity of the EU’s spending programmes, which creates misunderstandings, contributes towards these errors.
It also doesn’t necessarily mean the money was ‘wasted’, just that it wasn’t paid out according to the rules. One way to run afoul of the rules, for instance, is to award an EU-funded contract directly without holding a proper bidding process. Even though the rules haven’t been followed, it's not always the case that another firm would have been able to put in a lower bid.
The Court explains:
“Our estimate of the level of error is not a measure of fraud, inefficiency or waste. It is an estimate of the money that should not have been paid out because it was not used in accordance with the applicable rules and regulations.”
The most common type of error is when people claim for costs they’re ineligible for, followed by procurement errors like the one discussed above.
It’s not all the EU’s fault, and it gets some of the money back
While the EU is ultimately responsible for its own budget, the majority of the spending is implemented by member countries. Both the EU and member states make similar amounts of error.
In the UK’s case, the Public Accounts Committee has criticised the government for designing programmes which add to the complexity of EU spending, and showing a “distinct lack of urgency” in tackling that complexity and reducing the penalties the UK needs to pay back to the EU.
It can take the EU several years to make corrections to the money paid out in error. It estimates that, over the 2009-2015 period, it recovered just over 2% of the average payments.“Brexit is having a wee in the middle of the room at a house party because nobody is talking to you, and then complaining about the smell.”Comment
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Originally posted by shaunbhoy View Post
Again and again he asked about it and she had no idea where they had managed to pluck 17 billion from. Daniel Hannan then asked well if you had 17 billion just hanging around why not give it back to member states, because only Germany is not running a deficit. Everyone else has had to take loans out to pay for that 17 billion. Again, all she could say was well the member states have paid it in so it's ours.
Bloody ridiculous.Comment
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Darmy
I like this, you use the organisation's own publicity to prove your point. It's like Enron putting out a press release saying our accounts are accurate and everyone shouting its OK.
We note they only managed to get the accounts accurate in 2007 eekeek
I'm pretty sure if I filled in my tax return and said yes I lost €145 billion down the back of the sofa I'm pretty sure I would get a visit.Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much.Comment
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Originally posted by scooterscot View PostWhy Does the EU Get Such a Bad Rap?Down with racism. Long live miscegenation!Comment
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Originally posted by NotAllThere View PostThe proles have to have a hate figure. Historically it was the government, but they didn't like that, so they joined to EU so that could take the blame for all evils.Comment
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Originally posted by NotAllThere View PostThe proles have a right to question their leaders. Historically it was the government, but the Government didn't like that, so the government joined the EU so that ex ministers had a second pension plan and they could blame their incompetence on the EU.
FTFY
Typical mistruth shows why people dislike politicians & the EU because the way they win is lying
People did not vote to join the EUSSR, EU or even the common Market, we voted to stay in what we were told was a trading bloc.Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much.Comment
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Not bad if you can get it....
MEPs allowed to claim £120,000 in expenses without proof of how money is spent - Telegraph
Nothing to see hereThe Chunt of Chunts.Comment
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Originally posted by MrMarkyMark View PostNot bad if you can get it....
MEPs allowed to claim £120,000 in expenses without proof of how money is spent - Telegraph
Nothing to see hereAlways forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much.Comment
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Originally posted by vetran View Postperfectly acceptable there is an EU press release that says so.The Chunt of Chunts.Comment
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