More errors in an ever more complex EU budget

The number of erroneous payments made by the EU increased last year. Meanwhile, in response to multiple crises, its total funding has grown and become more complex. At this seminar, academics and officials discussed the problems resulting from the EU’s larger and more complex financial framework. A recording is now available.

In 2022 the error rate in payments under EU cohesion policy increased to 4.2%, having reached 3% in the previous year. This according to the European Court of Auditors, the institution tasked with checking that the EU's money is handled correctly. The growing error rate raises questions about, among other things, accountability, transparency and coherence. So too does the EU budget’s increasing complexity: it guarantees and pays for a growing number of EU loans, and in recent years there has been an increasing number of funds – both within and off-budget – that are partly outside the control of the European Parliament. A major shift came in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, with the €800 billion Next Generation EU initiative (NGEU), which is financed through joint EU loans. A recently published SIEPS report examines the accountability arrangements of NGEU’s largest component, the Recovery and Resilience Facility.

At a seminar on 19 October these questions were discussed by the author of the report and by EU officials working in the field of economic policy and financial oversight.