Comments on the Ministry of Economic Affairs' budget for 2014
The Court of Audit will forward a series of letters on the government's 2014 budget to the House of Representatives in the coming weeks.
The House received the first letter on the Ministry of Economic Affairs' budget, considering the Economy and Innovation part, on 2 October 2013. The Court of Audit draws attention in it to the following aspects:
- Expenditure on efficient and renewable energy. In the Court of Audit's opinion, the budget does not explain how expenditure on renewable energy (more than €1 billion in 2014) will contribute to renewable energy production in 2020 and subsequent years.
- The budget describes a downward trend in future expenditure on the ministry's agencies, especially on NL Agency, the Telecom Agency, the ICT Implementation Agency, the Government Service for Sustainable Rural Development, the National Service for Implementation of Regulations and the Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority. In recent years, the decline has not been realistic.
- Control of the structural deficit in the Guarantee Scheme for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (BMKB). The Court of Audit is concerned about the measures the minister has taken to close the €13 million financial shortfall in the scheme.
The Court of Audit intends to submit a letter to the House of Representatives on the Agriculture and Nature part of the budget in mid-October 2013.
The letter is only available in Dutch.