EU Financial Management

I tried to get hon. Members to give examples of where OLAF and other EU apparatus have really been able to get hold of those who have defrauded the EU and take their money away. All that happens, at best, is a slight tap on the wrist. That is not good. It goes back to the point about new entrants, who have to live with this legacy. They have to come in and say that they are going to behave themselves when they have nothing to go by as a yardstick. That is not acceptable. Unless we put our house in order, the new entrants, including the Romanians, the Bulgarians, the Croatians and perhaps the Turks in due course, will have nothing to live up to but plenty to live down to. The danger is that we will simply let the matter slip through for one more year. The general public heavily criticise us for not examining what happens in the EU carefully—it is a criticism that they always advance. They say that we are not doing our job properly. I have every sympathy with our hon. Friends who serve on the European Scrutiny Committee, who do wonderful work. However, we never do it on the Floor of the House because it appears to be too complicated, we have too little time and we are told that we will not understand the issues. The work is therefore all dumped upstairs. Every year, we tip the hat and say, ““What can we do about it?”” It is the same as allowing an alcoholic another drink. We always say, ““It’s going to be different. It’ll be sorted out tomorrow. It’ll definitely be sorted out for the next accession states””, but it never is. Hon. Members should take account of that and do much more.