The European Court of Auditors issued an adverse opinion on EU spending for the seventh consecutive year.

Omissions

• The adverse opinion concerns the legality and regularity of EU budget expenditure (payments), not the EU accounts as such: the ECA gave favourable opinions on the reliability of the accounts and on revenue.
• The ECA's estimated level of error in EU spending rose to 3.8% for the 2025 financial year, up from 3.6% in 2024, which is the substance behind the adverse opinion.
• The exact wording 'seventh consecutive year' is explicitly present in only one independent secondary source (Luxembourg Times); the underlying adverse opinion for the 2025 financial year is corroborated by additional independent reporting and by the ECA's own 2025 annual reports page.
• The figure is a one-off count tied to the October 2026 annual report; no ECA primary document explicitly stating 'seventh consecutive year' could be retrieved within the search limit.

Sources

• PrimaryEuropean Court of Auditors — Annual reports concerning the 2025 financial yearThe ECA will provide two separate opinions on the legality and regularity of expenditure: one on the EU budget and one on the RRF. Every year, ...
• SecondaryLuxembourg TimesFor the seventh consecutive year, the European Court of Auditors has given an adverse opinion on EU expenditure.
• SecondaryEU ReporterThe auditors estimate that the error rate in EU spending rose to 3.8%, from 3.6% in 2024. Given the significant and widespread nature of the ...
• SecondaryBanques des TerritoiresLa Cour des comptes européenne émet une opinion défavorable sur les dépenses budgétaires de l'UE de 2025, du fait d'un niveau d'erreur jugé ...