"Corruption affects all European Union members"

At least 120b Euros and "probably much higher":

via BBC with Eurobarometer graphic:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-26014387

Full report (pdf):

http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/home-affairs/e-library/documents/policies/organized-crime-and-human-trafficking/corruption/docs/acr_2014_en.pdf

"The EU has an anti-fraud agency, Olaf, which focuses on fraud and corruption affecting the EU budget, but it has limited resources. In 2011 its budget was just 23.5m euros."

See, the EU takes it seriously! Even here in Brussels:

euractiv 29 January 2014: EPP turns up the heat on Schulz over Parliament bid-rigging allegations

http://www.euractiv.com/eu-elections-2014/epp-puts-heat-schultz-stanishev-news-533113

The EU election campaign appeared to take a vicious turn on Wednesday (29 January) as the centre-right European Peoples’ Party (EPP) attacked European Parliament President Martin Schulz over a €60,000 contact awarded to the wife of Sergei Stanishev, the President of the Party of European Socialists (PES).

A Bulgarian news website, Bivol, reported on 31 October last year that a public relations firm led by Stanishev’s wife, Monika Stanisheva, had won a €60,000 European Parliament tender for a project promoting the European elections in Bulgaria...

EU Dude

One of the reasons the EU spent literally billions of euros in bribing politicians in the Eastern European states, like Ukraine, Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Moldova, Serbia - bribing them to entice them into the EU is their relative poverty.
The politicians in these satellite countries are comparatively poor. They don't have to give a Czech or Ukrainian minister two million euro as they would to a French or Italian or German politician - the "Satellites" the "New Colonies" going rate is a million for a politician of Minister rank and half of that for a politician.Once they are in - they are compromised and captive. They dare not complain.So, perhaps like Stanisheva- they become hyper enthusiastic supporters of the EU.Even if the people vote against the euro or EU membership - tough, democracy is a distant and a nuisance second to the EU.

BTW The EU annual accounts haven't been certified since 1994.

BTW The EU annual accounts haven't been certified since 1994.
(Leonidas, 3 February 2014 18:31)

As to sums needed for bribing you are totally right.Criminals from notorious Dohany street are willing to sell their country even for a one way ticket to San Francisco(they can meet their role model over there)or their mother for 2 eurocents.

As to sums needed for bribing you are totally right.Criminals from notorious Dohany street are willing to sell their country even for a one way ticket to San Francisco(they can meet their role model over there)or their mother for 2 eurocents.
(szemi, 3 February 2014 23:23)

Nice to see you posting again szemi.Western politicians, will do almost anything to get re-elected.Shady deals funded unsustainable perks that not only inflated popular expectations but created catastrophic debt and risk.What happens if your tax base will not support this? You sell your political soul, defer, and/or hide the true costs of your largesse behind undisclosed derivative deals with Goldman Sachs that eventually put your entire country’s sovereignty in jeopardy.The whole world are just pawns to 1% who owns it.

Leonidas,

Not quite:

https://www.multivu.com/mnr/63502-EU-accounts-signed-off-auditors


EU Accounts Signed off, but Errors Persist in all Main Spending Areas, say EU Auditors

LUXEMBOURG, November 5, /PRNewswire/ — The annual report on the EU budget for 2012 financial year was published today by the European Court of Auditors (ECA). As independent auditor, the ECA has signed off the 2012 accounts of the European Union, as it has done each year since the 2007 financial year. But in most spending areas of the EU budget the report finds that the legislation in force is still not fully complied with.

The ECA calls for a rethink of EU spending rules and recommends simplifying the legislative framework. The 2014–2020 programming period looks likely to remain expenditure oriented – designed for getting the EU budget allocated and spent – rather than focusing on the value it is intended to bring.....Looking at the EU budget as a whole, the ECA’s estimate of the error rate for spending is 4.8 % for the 2012 financial year (3.9% in 2011). All operational spending areas were affected by material error in 2012. The estimate of the error rate is not a measure of fraud or waste. It is an estimate of the money that should not have been paid out because it was not used in accordance with the legislation concerned....

EU Dude

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Court_of_Auditors

Quote:

Since 1994 the Court has been required to provide a "Declaration of Assurance", essentially a certificate that an entire annual budget can be accounted for. This has proved to be a problem, as even relatively minor omissions require the Court to refuse a declaration of assurance for the entire budget, even if almost all of the budget is considered reliable.[citation needed]

This has led to media reports of the EU accounts being "riddled with fraud", where issues are based on errors in paperwork even though the underlying spending was legal.[citation needed] The auditing system itself has drawn criticism from this perception. The Commission in particular have stated that the bar is too high, and that only 0.09% of the budget is subject to fraud.[12] The Commission has elsewhere stated that it is important to distinguish between fraud and other irregularities.[13] The controversial dismissal in 2003 of Marta Andreasen for her criticism of procedures in 2002 has called into doubt the integrity of the institutions.

It is frequently claimed that annual accounts have not been certified by the external auditor since 1994. In its annual report on the
implementation of the 2009 EU Budget, the Court of Auditors found that the two biggest areas of the EU budget, agriculture and regional spending, have not been signed off on and remain "materially affected by error."

'Declaration d'Assurance' (DAS) in french or 'Statement of Assurance' in english.

15 November 2013: Declaration of assurance to be published by the European Court of Auditors on EFSA 2012 annual accounts.

http://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/mb130627/docs/mb130627-p4.pdf

Official Journal of the EU (OJ C 331 of 14.11.2013)

2012 Annual report on this page: http://www.eca.europa.eu/en/Pages/AR_2012.aspx

http://www.eca.europa.eu/Lists/ECADocuments/AR12/AR12_EN.pdf

Page 9

"CHAPTER 1

The Statement of Assurance and supporting information

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Paragraph
The Court's Statement of Assurance provided to the European Parliament and the Council — Independent auditor’s report I-XII"

..."Adverse opinion on the legality and regularity of payments underlying the accounts

XII. In the Court’s opinion, because of the significance of the matters described in the basis for adverse opinion on the legality and regularity of payments underlying the accounts paragraph, the payments underlying the accounts for the year ended 31 December 2012 are materially affected by error."

5 September 2013

Vítor Manuel daSILVA CALDEIRA
President

European Court of Auditors

12, rue Alcide De Gasperi, 1615 Luxembourg, LUXEMBOURG
---

Quite underwhelming in a very Brussels manner.

Also on EUR-Lex:

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/JOIndex.do

I find it particularly amusing how just a few years ago, the EU was lecturing Romania and Bulgaria on corruption and threatened to freeze EU funding to those countries as a result thereof. A truly sad state of affairs our poor Europe finds itself in.

This is why I absolutely despise socialism with every molecule in my body, and I only wonder when this leftist scum in charge will run out of other peoples' (ie. honest taxpayers) money to siphon off.

At least 120b Euros and "probably much higher":

via BBC with Eurobarometer graphic:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-26014387

Full report (pdf):

http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/home-affairs/e-library/documents/policies/organized-crime-and-human-trafficking/corruption/docs/acr_2014_en.pdf

"The EU has an anti-fraud agency, Olaf, which focuses on fraud and corruption affecting the EU budget, but it has limited resources. In 2011 its budget was just 23.5m euros."

See, the EU takes it seriously! Even here in Brussels:

euractiv 29 January 2014: EPP turns up the heat on Schulz over Parliament bid-rigging allegations

http://www.euractiv.com/eu-elections-2014/epp-puts-heat-schultz-stanishev-news-533113

The EU election campaign appeared to take a vicious turn on Wednesday (29 January) as the centre-right European Peoples’ Party (EPP) attacked European Parliament President Martin Schulz over a €60,000 contact awarded to the wife of Sergei Stanishev, the President of the Party of European Socialists (PES).

A Bulgarian news website, Bivol, reported on 31 October last year that a public relations firm led by Stanishev’s wife, Monika Stanisheva, had won a €60,000 European Parliament tender for a project promoting the European elections in Bulgaria...

EU Dude

One of the reasons the EU spent literally billions of euros in bribing politicians in the Eastern European states, like Ukraine, Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Moldova, Serbia - bribing them to entice them into the EU is their relative poverty.
The politicians in these satellite countries are comparatively poor. They don't have to give a Czech or Ukrainian minister two million euro as they would to a French or Italian or German politician - the "Satellites" the "New Colonies" going rate is a million for a politician of Minister rank and half of that for a politician.Once they are in - they are compromised and captive. They dare not complain.So, perhaps like Stanisheva- they become hyper enthusiastic supporters of the EU.Even if the people vote against the euro or EU membership - tough, democracy is a distant and a nuisance second to the EU.

BTW The EU annual accounts haven't been certified since 1994.

As to sums needed for bribing you are totally right.Criminals from notorious Dohany street are willing to sell their country even for a one way ticket to San Francisco(they can meet their role model over there)or their mother for 2 eurocents.
(szemi, 3 February 2014 23:23)

Nice to see you posting again szemi.Western politicians, will do almost anything to get re-elected.Shady deals funded unsustainable perks that not only inflated popular expectations but created catastrophic debt and risk.What happens if your tax base will not support this? You sell your political soul, defer, and/or hide the true costs of your largesse behind undisclosed derivative deals with Goldman Sachs that eventually put your entire country’s sovereignty in jeopardy.The whole world are just pawns to 1% who owns it.

EU Dude

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Court_of_Auditors

Quote:

Since 1994 the Court has been required to provide a "Declaration of Assurance", essentially a certificate that an entire annual budget can be accounted for. This has proved to be a problem, as even relatively minor omissions require the Court to refuse a declaration of assurance for the entire budget, even if almost all of the budget is considered reliable.[citation needed]

This has led to media reports of the EU accounts being "riddled with fraud", where issues are based on errors in paperwork even though the underlying spending was legal.[citation needed] The auditing system itself has drawn criticism from this perception. The Commission in particular have stated that the bar is too high, and that only 0.09% of the budget is subject to fraud.[12] The Commission has elsewhere stated that it is important to distinguish between fraud and other irregularities.[13] The controversial dismissal in 2003 of Marta Andreasen for her criticism of procedures in 2002 has called into doubt the integrity of the institutions.

It is frequently claimed that annual accounts have not been certified by the external auditor since 1994. In its annual report on the
implementation of the 2009 EU Budget, the Court of Auditors found that the two biggest areas of the EU budget, agriculture and regional spending, have not been signed off on and remain "materially affected by error."

'Declaration d'Assurance' (DAS) in french or 'Statement of Assurance' in english.

15 November 2013: Declaration of assurance to be published by the European Court of Auditors on EFSA 2012 annual accounts.

http://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/mb130627/docs/mb130627-p4.pdf

Official Journal of the EU (OJ C 331 of 14.11.2013)

2012 Annual report on this page: http://www.eca.europa.eu/en/Pages/AR_2012.aspx

http://www.eca.europa.eu/Lists/ECADocuments/AR12/AR12_EN.pdf

Page 9

"CHAPTER 1

The Statement of Assurance and supporting information

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Paragraph
The Court's Statement of Assurance provided to the European Parliament and the Council — Independent auditor’s report I-XII"

..."Adverse opinion on the legality and regularity of payments underlying the accounts

XII. In the Court’s opinion, because of the significance of the matters described in the basis for adverse opinion on the legality and regularity of payments underlying the accounts paragraph, the payments underlying the accounts for the year ended 31 December 2012 are materially affected by error."

5 September 2013

Vítor Manuel daSILVA CALDEIRA
President

European Court of Auditors

12, rue Alcide De Gasperi, 1615 Luxembourg, LUXEMBOURG
---

Quite underwhelming in a very Brussels manner.

Also on EUR-Lex:

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/JOIndex.do

Leonidas,

Not quite:

https://www.multivu.com/mnr/63502-EU-accounts-signed-off-auditors


EU Accounts Signed off, but Errors Persist in all Main Spending Areas, say EU Auditors

LUXEMBOURG, November 5, /PRNewswire/ — The annual report on the EU budget for 2012 financial year was published today by the European Court of Auditors (ECA). As independent auditor, the ECA has signed off the 2012 accounts of the European Union, as it has done each year since the 2007 financial year. But in most spending areas of the EU budget the report finds that the legislation in force is still not fully complied with.

The ECA calls for a rethink of EU spending rules and recommends simplifying the legislative framework. The 2014–2020 programming period looks likely to remain expenditure oriented – designed for getting the EU budget allocated and spent – rather than focusing on the value it is intended to bring.....Looking at the EU budget as a whole, the ECA’s estimate of the error rate for spending is 4.8 % for the 2012 financial year (3.9% in 2011). All operational spending areas were affected by material error in 2012. The estimate of the error rate is not a measure of fraud or waste. It is an estimate of the money that should not have been paid out because it was not used in accordance with the legislation concerned....

BTW The EU annual accounts haven't been certified since 1994.
(Leonidas, 3 February 2014 18:31)

As to sums needed for bribing you are totally right.Criminals from notorious Dohany street are willing to sell their country even for a one way ticket to San Francisco(they can meet their role model over there)or their mother for 2 eurocents.

I find it particularly amusing how just a few years ago, the EU was lecturing Romania and Bulgaria on corruption and threatened to freeze EU funding to those countries as a result thereof. A truly sad state of affairs our poor Europe finds itself in.

This is why I absolutely despise socialism with every molecule in my body, and I only wonder when this leftist scum in charge will run out of other peoples' (ie. honest taxpayers) money to siphon off.