The EU's budget errors reached 5.6% in 2023, the highest since the financial crisis, according to the European Court of Auditors (ECA). The ECA expressed concerns over the significant rise in errors, particularly in cohesion spending, which hit 9.3%. The report criticized the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) for accountability issues and highlighted the challenges of repaying outstanding debts from the Next Generation EU program. The European Commission acknowledged the need for improvements but defended its error rate calculations.