Brussels arithmetic | The time
In a country where more than half of all luxury is spent, a minimum of financial hygiene in the government is not a thing. Brussels fails that test, a Court of Audit report shows.
It’s a mess. That is the picture that emerges in the report that the Court of Audit makes on the finances of the Brussels Region in 2020. The most striking blunder is the entry of an amount of 777,000 euros, which expected it to be 777 million euros. But actually it just doesn’t end in the thick report of 178 pages. Issued are incorrectly booked. Income is not registered correctly. Company cars were allocated where it was not allowed. Dozens that have arisen still not past ago.
The Court of Audit’s roots go back to the Middle Ages, when Philip De Stoute, Duke of Burgundy, established a Court of Auditors. The intent was to investigate and audit the state’s accounts, and it continues to do so. The institution may not be the most swinging of the Rue de la Loi, but it is crucial in the social contract between the citizen and the state. Citizens elect the MPs. The MPs must annually give the green light for the government budget. And the Court of Audit that whether the government also adheres to the budget.
The most disturbing thing about the report is not even the imaginative blunders, but the fact that the Court of Auditors does not approve the accounts of the Brussels Region. It says there is little audit evidence available. The document states that certain rules on how the region’s finances are managed have still not been established 15 years after its creation.
It’s a shocking report, because we live in a country where the government accounts for more than half of all spending. A minimum of financial hygiene is not a luxury.
The most disturbing report about the Brussels calculations is not even the blunders, but the fact that the Court of Auditors approves the accounts.
It is because the shortcomings are common: in the services of the Brussels Prime Minister, in the Brussels fire brigade, at parking.brussels, visit.brussels, in the services for the environment, housing and garbage collection.
It is all the more annoying because there are already enough problems in Belgium that are difficult to solve. State reforms have made government more expensive. Proper financing of Brussels is complex. That is why it is all the more important that what should be simple is also done correctly: preparing government accounts correctly.
All of this is happening against a backdrop of ever more careless borrowing, spending being kept out of budgets, and financial spending being made. Brussels debt has doubled in five years. The credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s, which charts debtor confidence, downgraded the long-term rating for the Brussels Region in March. A government that sees its debt doubling in a few years is worrying enough. The fact that it is also not clear to what extent the accounts are correct makes it completely alarming.