28
Apr
2026
Watch
Joint debate - Discharge 2024 (joint debate)
Mr President, first of all I would like to thank my fellow Members for their good cooperation. Thank you also to the European Court of Auditors. The budget error rate remains far from the target. For the sixth year in a row, the auditors gave a negative opinion on the use of expenditure. A major problem is that the control of EU funds does not work in the Member States: errors can be found in both budgetary and recovery instrument expenditure. One specific observation on this report: Russia's war of aggression is hitting particularly hard the countries along the eastern border and the EU's eastern border. At the same time, some regions have lost EU support due to changes in cohesion funds. The Commission must therefore assess the real impact of these changes and determine whether the aid originally intended for EU border regions has remained in these regions or has been entirely diverted, and make the necessary correction proposals.