As voters in some member states contemplating giving yet more power to Brussels, here’s a report (from the Daily Telegraph) that they might want to consider:

“The European Commission has a “chronically sordid” accounting system and is still unable to keep track of the EU’s £73billion budget after a decade of financial scandals, according to a top EU insider. An internal email obtained by The Telegraph paints an ugly picture of an autocratic body with an “incestuous esprit de corps” that uses its bureaucratic muscle to “trash” any official who dares to question its methods. It said the Budget Directorate was in “persistent denial of the real nature and depth of problems” it faced, choosing “cavity filling solutions where root canals were called for”.

Quite why anyone would want to give more to these people quite escapes me.

The Dutch, a people with a traditionally low tolerance for corruption, vote in their referendum on the draft EU ‘constitution’ on June 1st. The Netherlands is the highest per capita contributor to the EU budget. It makes absolutely no sense for them to vote yes.