International

This year the European Court of Auditors (ECA) has once again declared itself unable to approve the accounts of expenditure from the European Union’s various funds. The grounds for the Auditors’ decision are that the proportion of errors – 4.4% - was far above the acceptable margin of 2%. The ECA is, furthermore, concerned about the member states’ capacity to make effective use of the funds. Commenting on the matter, SP Euro-MP Dennis de Jong says: ‘It’s crazy that new airports have been built simply to get the money spent. In only 50% of projects was an investigation carried out into whether there was any need for the facility. No wonder that only one in three of the airports built with EU money has proved profitable. In every project the need which it meets should be clearly stated, along with the added value gained from EU financing. In particular the question as to whether a project would be realised without such European support is asked far too infrequently. This is a matter of taxpayers’ money. A results-based approach could save a great deal of costs.’

European Commissioner for climate policy Miguel Cañete has allowed himself to be seduced by the oil lobby, the SP says. This view was confirmed in the report “Cooking the Planet” from lobby watchdog Corporate Europe Observatory. The report demonstrates that Commissioner Cañete, along with his colleague Commission Vice-President for Energy Union Maroš Šefčovič, have spoken four times as often with corporate lobbyists as they have with private citizens and social or environmentalist NGOs combined. Moreover, the leading role in this lobby has been taken by the fossil fuel industry, within which the Spanish Commissioner Cañete was formerly employed.