In the cohesion policy area the Court of Auditors estimated the error rate at 6.6%, while the Commission reported only 2.3%

Omissions

• The Commission's 2.3% is not the same metric as the ECA's 6.6%: ECA presents it as 'Commission: risk at payment', an estimate that takes account of expected corrections/recoveries, whereas the ECA figure is the estimated level of error in payments. Presenting the two as directly comparable understates the methodological difference.
• The 6.6% figure is reported by the ECA under the spending heading 'Cohesion, resilience and values', which is broader than 'cohesion policy' strictly defined.
• The ECA itself publishes both figures side by side in its 2025 EU audit in brief, so the juxtaposition is not a selective reading of the report; however, the error rate rose from 5.7% in 2024 to 6.6% in 2025, a trend context the speaker did not mention.

Sources

• PrimaryEuropean Court of Auditors — 2025 EU audit in brief (web page)'Cohesion, resilience and values' had an estimated level of error at 6.6 % (5.7 % in 2024). Together these two spending areas accounts for ...
• PrimaryEuropean Court of Auditors — 2025 EU audit in brief (PDF)2.3 %. Commission: risk at payment. ECA: estimated level of error. 95 % confidence interval. Upper error limit. ECA estimated level of error. Lower error limit.
• SecondaryLa Veu del Llíure — coverage of ECA 2025 annual reportThe European Commission has put its own estimate of errors in cohesion funds at 2.3%, but the auditors believe that figure is probably ...