The Dutch government takes its responsibility for the use of EU money seriously. On the third Wednesday in May, when the government submits its financial report and accounts to parliament, the responsible ministers declare that the euros the country received from the EU were spent in accordance with the rules.
Until financial year 2019, they had done so by means of a National Declaration in the Central Government Annual Financial Report. The National Declaration was issued by the Minister of Finance on behalf of the government. Since 2020, they have done so by means of a separate EU section in the annual reports of the ministers responsible for funds under shared management.
Every year until financial year 2019 we certified the Minister of Finance’s National Declaration. Since 2020 we have audited the EU section in the ministers’ annual reports. We do so as part of our annual audit on the preparation of the ministries’ operational management information during the Accountability Audit. We issue our report on the third Wednesday in May. We also carry out additional audits of the use of EU funds (see, for instance, our audit on the added value of EU grants in the Netherlands (2022) and our audit on the Netherlands’ implementation of the Recovery and Resilience Facility (2025).