---

European Union (Amendment) Bill

Before the Minister answers that question, can she enlighten us on how those new powers over justice and criminal procedures will deal with the problem of the European Commission itself and the enormous amounts of money that go walkabout every year under the Commission’s control? The Court of Auditors estimated in its last report that 57 per cent of the overall budget, or €43 million, received an adverse opinion. The court said: "““Regardless of the method of implementation applied, the Commission bears the ultimate responsibility for the legality and regularity of the transactions underlying the accounts””," of the European Communities. I would be interested to know if this brave new world of EU legislature is going to be able to deal with that.