Euro MP slams spending on EU embassies

Spending by EU diplomats based all over the globe has been slammed by Fylde Euro MP Paul Nuttall.
By The Newsroom
Published 25th Jan 2016, 13:00 BST
North West UKIP MEP Paul NuttallNorth West UKIP MEP Paul Nuttall
North West UKIP MEP Paul Nuttall

A new report has shown how EU embassies ran up huge liabilities by signing off long-term aid programmes which had gone way over budget and it could land British taxpayers with an extra £1.8bn bill.

The European Parliament’s Budgetary Control Committee has found that the EU’s 139 foreign service offices had run up bills of £15.6bn for development aid projects in 2014 alone.

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Mr Nuttall, UKIP deputy leader, said: “We have our own embassies all round the world and I don’t see why we should be forced into handing over mind-blowing sums to be squandered by the EU which has not had its accounts signed off for 20 years.

“This report also shows how £11.5bn a year, half the EU’s annual aid budget, is wasted through local corruption and plain bad management in African and Arab countries.

“An inquiry into 2013 EU aid spending uncovered similar failings but it is just getting worse. The world of EU spending is financial madness on an almost unimaginable scale.”