Between EUR 4 and 5 billion of EU budget funds are wasted or misspent every year

Omissions

• The European Court of Auditors explicitly states that the error rate is not a measure of waste, fraud or inefficiency: much of the money affected by error still reached the intended beneficiaries or pursued the intended policy objective. Framing the amount affected by error as money 'wasted and misspent' overstates actual waste.
• The most recent data available before the session date (ECA annual report on the 2025 financial year, published around 8 October 2026) puts the estimated error rate at 3.8%, i.e. an amount affected by error of roughly EUR 6 billion or more — above the EUR 4-5 billion range quoted.
• The EUR 6 billion euro-equivalent for a 3.6% error rate comes from secondary reporting on the ECA's 2024 annual report; the ECA itself publishes the error rate rather than a headline euro amount, so the euro conversion is an approximation that depends on the audited expenditure base.

Sources

• PrimaryOfficial Journal of the EU / European Court of Auditors — independent auditor's report on the 2025 financial year (OJ C_202605256)"Our overall estimated level of error for budget expenditure accepted in the accounts for the year ended 31 December 2025 is 3,8 %."
• Secondaryeucrim — ECA Report for 2024 Financial Year: RRF Has Systemic Weaknesses"For the sixth consecutive year, the auditors issued an 'adverse opinion' on EU budget expenditure: the estimated error rate is 3.6% (approximately €6 billion)" and "the error rate was primarily due to incorrect payments in EU cohesion policy expenditure (2024: 5.7%; 2023: 9.3%)"
• SecondarySofia Globe — European Court of Auditors: Estimated 3.8% of the EU budget was misspent in 2025"the estimated level of error in EU spending rose to 3.8 per cent, from 3.6 per cent in 2024"
• SecondaryThe Brussels Times — The devil in the details: How the EU misspent 3.8% of the 2025 budget"The estimated level of error in EU spending rose to 3.8 % in 2025, from 3.6 % in 2024."