Finance minister Wouter Bos on Tuesday refused to approve the European Union’s 2006 accounts in an attempt to force national governments to take more responsibility for the European money they spend.

The EU auditors have refused to sign off the EU’s accounts for the past 13 years because of irregularities. Bos was backed by Sweden, Denmark and Slovenia but these countries did not refuse to sign, news agency ANP reported.
Yesterday the Financial Times reported that auditors found ‘huge errors’ in the €107bn budget last year.
Liberal MEP Jan Mulder told news agency ANP that the EU’s regional subsidies have a margin of error of 12%, a total of €4bn. ‘It is high time finance ministers took action,’ he said. ‘They have to tackle the mistakes, not continually nod them through.’