EU Financial Management

I agree with the hon. Member for Solihull (Lorely Burt). It is true that much of the problem is connected with the ability, capacity and willingness of nation states to monitor expenditure. That is another reason why the attacks on the European Union or ““Brussels”” are sometimes inaccurate. In the end, it is a matter of nation states not fulfilling their responsibilities. Later, I shall come to what we were able to do during our presidency to improve the situation. A central part of that is the willingness of nation states to take their responsibilities for monitoring expenditure more seriously than they have done.