Col. Crackpot wrote:where did that other $108 Billion go? They lost it? Is it buried under a farmhouse in Bavaria? Dis they piss it away at a craps table in Monaco?How can you completely lose track of 90% of your budget?
The EU budget has two fundamental flaws.
First, the EU's €100 billion annual budget does not reflect the true costs of EU policies. National administrations are the ones who bear the costs of implementing and enforcing EU law, and many firms and farmers are responsible to the national governmnents, while they still receive E.U support
Second, the EU budget is not spent well. The basic principle behind the budget is redistribution: the transfer of funds from wealthier European countries to the less well-off member-states. That in itself makes the money harder to control than it would be if it was used for, say, buying military equipment. Adding to that, the way the money is distributed is peculiar. Rather than simply transferring money from rich countries to poorer ones, the EU channels it through the CAP and the structural and cohesion funds.
This situation makes any auditing nearly impossible (the known 10% can correspond to the money which is used in federal issues, which is easily trackable). The situation is impossible to maintain, must change and is going to change. Bitching about it is like beating a dead horse. Everybody aknowledges the problem and the coming economical/political reform goal is to put an end to it.
10% of $120 billion.. and 9 straight years..
