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Up to 10% of the community budget is subject to fraud, according to various studies. Every year, the
Court of Auditors makes reports on fraud and maladministration.
The annual Budget of the European Union is above 100 Billion Euro and rising.
Transparency (http://euabc.com/index.phtml?word_id=915) and a double-entry book keeping (http://www.bonde.com/index.phtml?aid=16109) system could help.
The Eurostat scandal
In 1999, it came to light that Eurostat officials proposed fake sums of money to be used for contracts and then spent leftover money as they pleased - this practice was used only with certain 'trustworthy' contractors.
The scandal (http://www.euabc.com/index.phtml?word_id=1283) resulted in the European Parliament considering to send all commissinoners home, but it wasn't neccesary to do this formally. The Santer Commission stepped back on its on afterwards.
Mrs Schmidt-Brown, the Danish employee of Eurostat who "blew the whistle" on financial irregularities within the organisation is now living on an invalidity pension - a direct consequence of the psychological pressure she endured from her then bosses at Eurostat.
Whistleblowers (http://www.euabc.com/index.phtml?word_id=962) are civil servants who go public with information about fraud and misadministration.
Paul van Buitenen (http://www.euabc.com/index.phtml?word_id=116) was the Dutch
civil servant who became the whistleblower whose allegations of fraud and mismanagement within the European Commission in 1998 led to the resignation of Commission of Jacques Santer .
He had tried to change the system from inside but was prevented.
For his actions, Van Buitenen was disciplined and suspended by the EU. Eventually he was (at least partially) forgiven and he returned to the organisation in 2003, in a different capacity. Nevertheless, he would later leave for good in order to eventually become a Member of the European Parliament.
Pledging to continue his fight against fraud and bureaucratic inefficiency on the European level, Van Buitenen founded a party named Europa Transparant, ran with it for the European Parliament in the 2004 elections (in the member state the Netherlands) and won two seats.
Marta Andreasen
Marta Andreasen (http://www.euabc.com/index.phtml?word_id=43), a Spanish
accountant, was employed in 2002 to head the Commissions accounts department
of 130 staff. She criticised the accounting system for being open to fraud and
also criticised the Commission because it does not have a single system, but
uses Excel spreadsheets for producing figures which allows figures to be altered without trace (http://www.bonde.com/index.phtml?sid=528&aid=10333).
Additionally, the fundamental double bookkeeping system, which is
mandatory for all private companies, is still missing in the EU.
Mrs. Andreasen raised her criticisms internally, but made no progress with her superior. She then wrote to Commissioner Schreyer and the Commission President, Prodi. She again received no answers and so went to members of the EU Parliaments Budget Control Committee. At this stage the press began to report the criticisms.
She was suspended from her job by the Commission and is now undergoing a disciplinary procedure that may result in dismissal.
On December 12, 2004, Mrs. Andreasen was officially fired from her job (http://www.bonde.com/index.phtml?sid=487&aid=17997).
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