Auditors say the European Union has failed to keep tight control over its own spending.
The European Court of Auditors said there were errors in allocating about 5 billion euros from the 2011 budget.
Court president Vitor Caldeira acknowledged there was scope to spend EU money more efficiently.
However, the BBC reports that critics said the commission itself must also accept some of the blame.
''The commission wants a 5% increase in the EU budget, yet nearly 4% of spending is affected by error,'' said Martin Callanan MEP of Britain.
