EU Financial Management

The Minister is being very generous. The fact that we can have a dialogue of this kind shows the benefits of our system. Does the Minister agree, however, that it is misleading to say that those very small figures represent the limits of waste, in particular? The number of value-for-money studies that the European Commission undertakes is minimal, unlike the number undertaken by the National Audit Office here. We have no comparable examination of waste in the European Union; all that we have is an examination relating to theft and misappropriation. The questions of waste and efficiency of spending are not adequately measured and never have been, and that is not proposed even under the Barroso plan.