The EU Gets a “Bad Grade” for the Seventh Year in a Row: 3.8 Percent of the Budget Spent Against the Rules
The European Court of Auditors reported that the error rate in EU spending for 2025 rose to 3.8 percent, from 3.6 last year, and issued an adverse opinion for the seventh time in a row.
On October 8 the European Court of Auditors published its annual report for 2025: the estimated error rate in EU spending rose to 3.8 percent, from 3.6 percent in 2024, and the auditors issued an adverse opinion on expenditure for the seventh year in a row, calling the errors “significant and widespread.” The rate is highest for cohesion funds (from 5.7 to 6.6 percent), and for agriculture and environment it rose from 2.6 to 3.9 percent. The accounts, however, give a “true and fair view” and revenue is error-free; the Commission highlights a “clean bill of health” for the 19th consecutive year.
The heaviest warnings concern the recovery fund: of €359.9 billion committed, €237.5 billion had been disbursed by the end of 2025, leaving more than €122 billion for the final year. Only three of 27 member states had drawn at least 80 percent, and nine of 37 grant payments did not comply with the rules. EU borrowing could reach one trillion euros by 2027, and interest alone on the recovery support in 2028–2034 could reach €93 billion. “Ambitious budgets demand equally ambitious safeguards,” said the court’s president, Tony Murphy.
What does Macedonia have to do with it? There is no direct figure: the report concerns EU and member-state spending and, in the parts published, does not mention candidates. Indirectly, though, the point is clear: the next EU budget will have tighter controls, and countries waiting for access to European funds will have to prove that the money is spent according to the rules.
MKNews Hub · Macedonia · October 9, 2026
