Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2016-10-26-Speech-3-447-000"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20161026.25.3-447-000"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spoken text |
"Mr President, I am reminded of the film ‘Groundhog Day’, in which Phil Connors is doomed to repeat the same day over and over again, trapped in a never—ending cycle where he experiences the second of February time and time again, until he finally learns his lesson and – as with any great, or at least good, romantic comedy – gets the girl and is able to experience another day. That is comedy. This is reality.
The reality is that the Court of Auditors, for the 21st year in a row, has issued an adverse opinion on the legality and regularity of the payments underlying the accounts of the European Union, which of course would be a very serious thing indeed in accountancy circles. If any business found that they had an adverse opinion on anything to do with their accounts at all, it would be treated very seriously indeed by the authorities if that happened time and time again.
The reality is that the error in the European Union budget is still at a level of 3.8% of the budget, which is far above – almost double – the 2% materiality threshold. That is just, of course, the errors that we know about. The reality is that we are not at a point where value for money is being properly assessed. I think Commissioner Georgieva is absolutely right when she says that if there were a road to nowhere but it had zero error, that would not make it value for money.
I think what we have seen from this Court of Auditors report is example after example: whether it is the EUR 3 500 on the panoramic spyglass, the EUR 10 000 donation to a church, the EUR 4 000 mountain bike, the building materials in Slovakia that were charged for at six times the going rate, or the EUR 100 000 on dry stone walls with no link to EU expenditure. The reality is that there are a lot of things that are going on here which certainly do not in any way, shape or form provide value for money.
I would say normally that a report like this would put the European Union on notice to improve or to risk losing support. I do believe that is what the Commission is genuinely trying to do, but this has happened over and over again now. We are on year 21. I think this kind of thing is not the only reason for Brexit – far from it – but it is part of the package and, if this carries on, the UK will not be the only country heading out of the exit door. ‘Groundhog Day’ is romantic comedy. It is not exactly Shakespeare, but perhaps Shakespeare would be more appropriate. I am thinking, of course, of the ‘Comedy of Errors’."@en1
|
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:unclassifiedMetadata | |
| lpv:videoURI |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples