Nearly €7 million spent on public projects financed by EU structural funds between 2010 and 2013 constituted irregular expenditure, according to a report that has been published by the National Audit Office.

The errors included breaches of the equal treatment principle, failure to state selection and award criteria, incorrect methods of procurement, non-compliance with advertising procedures, unapproved changes in contract scope and the unjustified resort to direct contracts.

The detected irregularities accounted for 1.64 per cent of the value of projects carried out through public procurement.

This means that out of the €425,756,293 which represents the total value of projects, €6,997,691 were classified as irregular expenditure.

This irregularity resulted in a financial correction of €1,291,297, equivalent to 0.3 per cent of €425,756,293, the NAO said in its analysis of errors that were already detected by authorities and declared to the European Commission.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.