Accounts
- The Court of Auditors produces an annual report on the accounts of the EU (Photo: blogs.phillyburbs.com)
Accounts
The Court of Auditors produces an annual report on the accounts of the EU. This is presented each year on the basis of information delivered by the EU Commission. The European Parliament and the Council then have to approve the accounts by "granting discharge".
When in 1998 the European Parliament refused to grant discharge for the accounts of the budgetary year 1996 it led to the fall of the Commission on 15 March 1999.
The Court of Auditors has criticised the accounts every year since 1994, stating that it could not verify and stand over the correctness of the underlying transactions.
It has also criticised the bookkeeping system of the Commission.
The former head of the Commission's accounts department, Marta Andreasen, was fired when she informed the European Parliament and the public about her criticism of the bookkeeping system. The European Commission introduced a new bookkeeping system from 2005.
See Lisbon Treaty Article 287 and 310-324 TFEU.
Links
See also Budget, Censure, Andreasen, Buitenen
http://ec.europa.eu/Commission_Barroso/kallas/index_eng.htm
