Presentation of the Court of Auditors' annual report - 2017 (debate)
Richard Ashworth (PPE). – Mr President, this 2017 audit marks one of the largest year—on—year improvements, and I think for that we should give credit to the Commission and to Commissioner Oettinger. But especially I want us to give credit to former Commissioner Georgieva. She was the one who laid the foundations, and she, I think, deserves our special recognition.
As in previous years, the auditors have commented on the high number of instances where the Member States did have sufficient information with which to identify and intercept errors at a much earlier stage. As President Lehne said earlier, had the Member States done that, the overall result would have been significantly better. It’s important that the public have confidence in the integrity of European expenditure, so audit reports do matter. Therefore I take this opportunity to call on the Member States and ask them to accept their responsibilities – but I also ask them to act on their responsibilities.
Finally, as ever, may I express my thanks to Mr Lehne, President of the Court of Auditors, and his team for a job well done.