Discussions about the future of the European Union’s budget are ongoing, following the European Commission’s recent proposals for the post-2027 period. In this context, the European Court of Auditors (ECA) is preparing to release its annual report on October 9, which will address current and upcoming budgetary issues.
Each year, ECA auditors review EU budget revenue and spending to determine if the accounts are reliable and whether transactions comply with relevant rules. This process includes testing samples of transactions to assess irregularities in spending.
The error rate found by auditors has remained above the 2% threshold that the ECA uses to gauge the seriousness of incorrectly spent EU funds. For example, last year’s estimated error rate for the 2023 budget was 5.6%.
According to the ECA, “It is important to understand, however, that the level of error is not a measure of fraud, inefficiency, or waste: it is an estimate of the amount of money used that did not comply with EU and national rules and regulations. In many cases, this is by mistake, however, the auditors sometimes also identify cases of suspected fraud. These are immediately reported to the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) and the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO), which then decide whether to open an investigation.”
In 2024, total EU payments reached €247 billion. Of this amount, €191.1 billion was spent under the regular EU budget while €55.9 billion was allocated through the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), which serves as COVID recovery funding. The two models differ significantly in their structure; therefore, for a fourth consecutive year, the ECA will issue separate opinions on each model regarding legality and regularity for 2024 expenditures.
The annual report will be published on October 9 on the ECA website.