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11/15/05

The First Post: Balancing the books is impossible

The First Post

Balancing the books is impossible

John Humphrys (presenter): Marta Andreasen was the European Union's Chief Accountant. She went public, said the budget was an open till waiting to be robbed, and she was sacked. Are things getting better, as the Commission tells us?

Marta Andreasen: The fact that the European Court of Auditors has refused to sign the accounts for the 11th year in succession doesn't show that there is any improvement at all. I cannot judge their reasons, but when I tried to suggest ways in which we could improve the accounting system, I was not heard, I was pushed out. There seems to be a culture that is not inclined to improve things. JH: Dennis McShane, damning stuff? . Dennis McShane MP (Lab, former European Minister): It certainly is. The trouble is that 85 per cent of all the EU spends comes straight back to national ministries, particularly the agricultural sector. When it gets down to farmers - every sheep, every pig, every vineyard - I'm afraid you can't sign off on those accounts. In Britain, we can't sign off on our Works and Pensions Ministry because of benefit fraud. There were years under the Conservatives when we couldn't sign off on the Ministry of Defence. I don't think that means every minister and every civil servant is a crook. It's like saying we shut down all payments of benefits in Britain because the Department of Work and Pensions can't sign off on its accounts.JH: But you've got to have that system. We haven't got to have the EU. DS: Our farmers still want their subsidies, whether it's from the British taxpayer or through the EU. We have this automatic once-a-year attack on the EU. You don't haul in the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, or Defence. Chris Eaton-Harris (MEP, Con): It's a surprise to hear a former Minister of Europe being an apologist for fraud. He's saying it's OK that it happens because it's always gone on, and it'll always go on, and there's nothing we can do about it. He was Minister for Europe at a time - I think it was the ninth, 10th year running that the Court of Auditors didn't sign off the accounts - and the Government didn't even think about raising a question about the accounting system. If it was a private company, if your accounts

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