Scrutiny

Every democratic parliamentary and governmental system has its checks and balances. In the EU, the level of scrutiny is very weak:

• Under his statute, the official who investigates complaints is not permitted to see all documents in the EU Commission.
• The Court of Auditors does not get all the figures and documents it asks for.

In early 2003, the EU Parliament’s Budgetary Control Committee was very critical of the EU Commission's book-keeping, which had also been criticised by the Court of Auditors for several years. But the accounts were finally approved (discharged).

Links