Europees Parlement geërgerd na 11de negatieve beoordeling EU-begroting door Rekenkamer (en)

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - MEPs plan to pile on pressure for the EU to clean up the way it audits spending, after the European Court of Auditors turns in its 2004 report on Monday night (14 November).

The report, sped by car from Luxembourg to Strasbourg on Monday afternoon, has been kept closely under wraps so far.

But everybody knows the court will give a negative "statement of assurance" for the 11th year running, saying there is not enough information to sign off the EU's books.

"Nothing has changed in the structure of spending from last year, so it must be negative again," a spokesman for the European Parliament's budgetary control committee said.

Member states create the biggest accounting hole by refusing to give details on what they do with over 80 percent of the €100 billion a year that Brussels doles out.

But the European Commission has also faced criticism for failing to inform the court on the evolution of its auditing system, which covers the other 20 percent.

MEPs hands are tied

Dutch liberal MEP Jan Mulder plans to renew calls for reform in a budgets report early next year, after EU finance ministers last week threw out proposals boosting member states' accountability.

"It's a big issue," he told EUobserver. "How can we face the public with a budgetary situation like this?"

But Mr Mulder explained that the parliament is limited to making speeches and recommendations for now, as it is too early to use the "nuclear option" of the discharge procedure.

Each April, MEPs sign off or "discharge" the previous year's spending, paving the way for adoption of the following year's budget.

Delaying the discharge can put pressure on the commission or member states to make changes, while refusing to discharge can damage confidence in the commission, even causing its fall as in 1998.

Watch this space

The fact that the Barroso commission came to power late last year makes it hard to take it to task for 2004 spending, however.

MEPs are also wary of disrupting the "sensitive" talks on the 2007-2013 financial perspective, which are widely expected to spill into the Austrian presidency in the first half of next year.

But Mr Mulder hinted that a long-term strategy for forcing audit reform is beginning to take shape.

"If we can use this [the discharge procedure], then it should be after the third or fourth year when the commission is fully responsible," he said.