Britain stays out of EU financial crisis deal

[andyofborg]

I'll tell you what; when the EU finally publishes a set of accounts, and has them audited,

 

they are audited

[andygardener]

they are audited

 

However the auditors do not approve them, because they are not accurate. Every year billions of euros disappear without trace because of their at best incompetance and at worst fraud.

[andyofborg]

However the auditors do not approve them, because they are not accurate. Every year billions of euros disappear without trace because of their at best incompetance and at worst fraud.

 

the eu distributes money through the central governments and it's them who lose track of the money. they could, of course distribute it directly but i suspect that might not go down well with some governments

 

the audit requirements are far stricter than for ordinary companies, so perhaps we should be more worried about them

[grafikhaus74]

It'll take a few days for all the facts to come out of this potentially historic day (although I'm sure that financial genius Ed Balls has already made his mind up...)

 

On the face of it, top marks to Cameron and in stark contrast to 2007 when Prudence Brown crept in like the rat he is and signed at the last moment, thinking nobody would notice.

 

Sarky and Merkel can moan all they want, we can have endless speculation about a 'two-tier' Europe. Labour will bleat about being 'sidelined'. Some will mention tariff barriers.

 

But they need us more than we need them. We pay a net £51 Bn a year into this fiddle - one of the very few net contributors. Where would they be without this vast sum?

[andygardener]

the eu distributes money through the central governments and it's them who lose track of the money. they could, of course distribute it directly but i suspect that might not go down well with some governments

 

the audit requirements are far stricter than for ordinary companies, so perhaps we should be more worried about them

 

The EU takes ownership of the funds we and other provides it and enforces the rules on what can and cannot be funded. It is their responsibility to ensure they can account for it. A company head office would not get away with authorising expenses payments for branch offices to be distrubed to their various workers and then trying to blame the branch offices because a lot of them sent in reciepts that didn't add up. Well they might for a year, but not for 17 years.

 

They are the custodians of huge ammounts of money and need to take responsibility for it.

[purdy]

There are potentially very interesting times around the corner as Denmark takes over Presidency of The Council of The European Union in January.

[jez449]

the eu distributes money through the central governments and it's them who lose track of the money. they could, of course distribute it directly but i suspect that might not go down well with some governments

 

the audit requirements are far stricter than for ordinary companies, so perhaps we should be more worried about them

 

Beg to differ:

 

The way in which the EU spends its budget has been criticised by the Court of Auditors for the 16th year in a row.

 

Presenting his annual report to the European Parliament on 11 November 2010, the president of the Court Vitor Caldeira said there were "material levels of error", particular in the fields of agriculture and the cohesion funds.

The European Court of Auditors was established in 1975, and audits the accounts of EU institutions.

 

In its most recent report it has found that over a third of the €35.5bn allocated by the EU for regional funding was affected by errors, either unintentional or possibly fraud.

 

The Audit and Anti-Fraud Commissioner Algirdas Semeta said the Commission would "follow up on all recommendations" but said the report was a "positive sign that efforts to improve budgetary control are having an impact".

 

He pointed to the fact that the auditors found that 95% of payments were free from errors, however Polish conservative MEP Ryszard Czarnecki said voters would "focus on the remaining 5%".

 

Strong criticism came from UKIP MEP Marta Andreasen, a former Chief Accountant at the European Commission, who said that if similar problems were revealed in the private sector, "the company would be closed down and the directors fired".

[ChrisT70]

anyone watch question time last night? very interesting discussions prior to the big pullout, about the euro, i tend to agree with the side of the "expert" who said the Euro is now certainly doomed and the best way forward for them was a sensible period of taking it apart carefully rather than allowing it to implode in the future and crash.

[purdy]

anyone watch question time last night? very interesting discussions prior to the big pullout, about the euro, i tend to agree with the side of the "expert" who said the Euro is now certainly doomed and the best way forward for them was a sensible period of taking it apart carefully rather than allowing it to implode in the future and crash.

 

I didn't see it but a sensible person would have to question how the Euro and Eurozone can survive.

 

3 members have received substantial EU/IMF bail outs to stop their debt repayments spiralling out of control.

2 members have received substantial covert EU/IMF bail outs to stop their debt repayments spiralling out of control.

at least 5 of the EU countries that are on schedule to join the Eurozone have received substantial EU/IMF bail outs to stop their debt repayments spiralling out of control.

 

That isn't the basis for a stable currency and it is one the we should distance ourselves from financing at every oportunity.

[Kidorry]

Thing is Molly what the EU wants to do is tax all financial transactions within the Eurozone, all proceeds going into the EU pot and not to the individual countries where the transactions take place.

 

As well over half of all financial transactions within the Eurozone pass through the City of London financial district, the UK would be affected more than other EU countries. As the tax would not apply to transactions outside the Eurozone, some institutions would almost certainly move away from the UK.

 

The reason why France and Germany are so in favour of this tax is that it will not affect their countries much and will therefore be popular with their voters.

 

You can knock the bankers all you want - I prefer them in the UK paying tax at 50% on their bonuses rather than them not in the UK at all.

I thought I heard on the news tonight that one of the things Sarkozy wants put in place is all transactions to do with euro should be done in the eurozone,which excludes the U.K. anyway.