Every year the ECA audits the revenue and expenditure of the EU budget and provides its opinion on the extent to which the annual accounts are reliable and income and spending transactions comply with the applicable rules and regulations.
EU budgetary spending totalled €148.5 billion in 2013, or around €290 for every citizen. This spending amounts to around one per cent of EU gross national income and represents approximately two per cent of total public spending of EU Member States. The EU budget is agreed annually — within the context of seven year financial frameworks — by the European Parliament and the Council.
Ensuring that the budget is properly spent is primarily the responsibility of the Commission. For around 80 % of the spending (principally agriculture and cohesion) this responsibility is shared with the EU’s Member States.