Brexit "divorce"- did Commonwealth countries pay to leave?

Did I say all of it? Don't think so.

They said they represent a true and fair view, which is all they need to say to sign them off.

Beer?

Nige's cigars??

dj If you read the actual audit report, you'll see that the expenditure of €145.9 bn is noted as 'Affected by material error' Are you seriously suggesting UKIP spent that amount (just over 5.5 billion euros) on their Brexit campaign?

news.sky.com/story/ukip-misspent-eu-funding-on-brexit-campaign-says-leaked-audit-10660254

I agree with you that UKIP isn't a political party, if you like.

"In 2015 the European Court of Auditors—which checks the EU’s accounts—found just under 4% of spending was affected by some kind of error. The most common kind is when people claim for costs they’re ineligible for.

Only a small minority of errors are proven cases of fraud, where people have deliberately tried to get money illegitimately, and the EU does recover some of the lost money later."

The fraud is to do with UKIP taking EU money and using it for Brexit and the UK referendum.
They have asked Farage to pay it back. If he doesn't they will take him to court.
That's to do with UKIP, which is supposed to be a political party.

The EU, all the countries that make it up, decided on projects for various countries and agreed to pay for them.
As Jalima says, it shouldn't be too difficult to work out what our share of that actually is.They will say one thing ( almost certainly too much) and we will say another, and gradually come to an understanding on how much to pay back.

dj This is from the opening paragraph of the audit report from the fullfact link you posted.

"Payments for 2015 are materially affected by error. We therefore give an adverse opinion on their legality and regularity."

Perhaps some people interpret this as 'not signed off'. I don't think it's got anything to do with a political party.

A lot of the errors are to do with UKIP, by the way.

fullfact.org/europe/eu-accounts-signed-subject-errors/

Yes they have.
What is your reason for saying they have not?

As far as I'm aware the accounts for the EU have never been signed off!

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/aug/19/british-voters-second-referendum-on-brexit

Vernon Bogdanor thinks we can become a colony of the EU.

Newquay I really don't think you can begin to equate Britain's relationships with its former colonies (later renamed the Commonwealth) and membership of the EU.

Colonisation means invading by force, grabbing lands and taking resources as well as exploiting people (by forcing them to work for you or selling them as slaves). It wasn't an equal relationship at all.

While Britain chose apply for membership of the EU and the members have equal rights.

www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/brexit-explained/eu-divorce-bill

fullfact.org/europe/eu-divorce-bill/

We are expected to pay what we owe - so does that mean we will get back most of it in grants anyway?

You'd think they could work out what they think we owe, what they owe us back and divvy it up satisfactorily.

Not to mention the slave trade between w Africa and the W Indies and N America making lots of European plantation owners fabulously wealthy.

And the First Nations in the USA

Snap, suzie.

Tell the First Nations in Canada that they did not have their lands stolen from them, along with the herds of buffalo and the gold in their rivers.

I think lots of indigenous people were killed , land stolen by the Europeans during the colonisation of Australia, NZ and Canada amongst other places. Not a bloodless invasion .

I suggest you look at the EU parliament, just how many people are sitting there in that area. Then the hundreds of offices devoted to translations and printouts, then the legal side and the amount of PA s the MEps have, the computers and computer systems that have to be kept in good working order.
If you are a member of such an organisation you can't just get up and leave and not pay for the things you wanted, voted for and used just on a whim.

To be honest Newquay Is this a sample of Brexit thinking?

What would you do with those balance sheets? There are thousands of folders. Which would you wish to see first?
D Davies should start work on those concernng the the Uk but he doesn't seem eager to start. The EU lawyers are not paid to to this work for the UK.unless the UK pays for it.

Tell the Aborigines that we never robbed Australia.
Our prisons were full. We sent prisoners over there, and took back flax and timber, which we took from the aborigines. We didn't buy it from them any more than we bought their land. That is robbery.

Exactly, Welshwife.
It's quite easy to find out what we agreed to up until 2020, but people like to be spoonfed. They also like to weasel out of agreements.

Grow many more times are we to hear this rot about the accounts! They HAVE been audited every year and found to be OK. The money we need to still pay is that which we have agreed to pay up till 2020 I think - the EU works on a seven year programme and all the money requirements are sorted when the agreements are made - that the promise we need to fulfil. We also need to pay the pension agreements made for I think our own EU officials.
If you wish to cancel SKY you need to pay three months payments whether or not you can actually watch their programmes!