EU ‘misplaces’ €5.7bn

AUDITORS discovered there was €5.7 billion missing from the EU’s accounts in what was described as a “significant error” by Ireland’s outgoing member of the court of auditors.

The money had been unspent by member states but this had been overlooked in the accounts for 2009 and 2010, where it had been marked down as debt.

It was a mistake similar to that discovered in the Irish accounts where €3.6bn was marked down twice as a debt in the accounts, increasing the nation’s debt by around 2% of GDP.

“The EU is in fact better off than was reflected in their original accounts”, said Eoin O’Shea, who is due to be replaced by the secretary general of the Department of Finance, Kevin Cardiff.