Committees of the Riigikogu get an overview of the European Court of Auditors 2024 annual report
Member of the European Court of Auditors (ECA) Keit Pentus-Rosimannus will present the report on the implementation of the EU budget and the use of funds in 2024 to the European Union Affairs Committee, the Finance Committee, and the State Budget Control Select Committee of the Riigikogu (Parliament of Estonia), at a public sitting starting at 1.30 p.m. today.
Chairman of the European Union Affairs Committee of the Riigikogu Peeter Tali said that the estimated level of error in spending from the EU budget had decreased, but the accuracy of the use of funds still needed attention, and in order to safeguard the sustainability of future budgets, it was also necessary to address the debt burden, which had grown many times over and had thus also rapidly increased interest payments.
Chair of the Finance Committee of the Riigikogu Annely Akkermann pointed out that in the context of the ongoing discussions on the next EU long-term budget, it was the time to focus on ensuring that the use of budgetary funds was even more transparent and the supervision more efficient. “Measurability of results is particularly important because the decisions on the budgetary allocations of the next period and assessments of their use are made on the basis of the results,” Akkermann said.
Chairman of the State Budget Control Select Committee of the Riigikogu Urmas Reinsalu noted that by 2027, outstanding EU borrowing could surpass EUR 900 billion, nearly ten times the level of 2020, before the pandemic recovery package was launched. To safeguard the sustainability of future EU budgets, it is necessary to consider the debt burden and ensure that the guarantees are solid.
The European Court of Auditors Annual report for the 2024 financial year concludes that the EU’s accounts give a true and fair view of the financial standing of the EU, and that revenue transactions were error-free. The level of error affecting EU spending was 3.6%, which is lower than 5.6% of the year before. The auditors found that irregularities affected part of the EUR 59.9 billion spent under the Recovery and Resilience Facility. This is the main pillar of the EU’s NextGenerationEU (NGEU) pandemic recovery package They noted an increasing trend in the financial impact of irregularities. They also noted issues in connection with customs duties, which are at risk of either being declared incorrectly or not being declared.
The joint sitting of the Committees starts at 1.30 p.m. in the Conference Hall of the Riigikogu and will be live streamed online. Video recording of the sitting will be available on the Riigikogu YouTube channel, and photos in the Riigikogu photo archive (Erik Peinar / Chancellery of the Riigikogu).
Riigikogu Press Service
Gunnar Paal
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