The Netherlands Court of Audit (NCA)— the official auditing body of the Dutch government— on June 10 created a new website to draw attention to the lack of financial transparency by the North Atlantic Treaty Alliance (NATO).
“It is not clear what NATO entities achieve or whether they give value for money,” according to the announcement. “This is because most of NATO’s financial and organisational information is undisclosed.”
The move was applauded by a NATOWatch, a nongovernmental organization. It said:
The new NCA website is a welcome first step in visualising NATO’s financial flows and assessing the Alliance’s level of transparency. It will provide taxpayers with an insight into NATO’s funding flows. It is clear that there will be huge gaps in the NCA data (given the lack of information available from public sources). Relevant parties at NATO and auditors in other NATO member states should begin the process of helping to fill those gaps.
The new NCA website explains:
NATO is funded with taxpayers’ money. However, it does not yet provide comprehensive information about its annual revenues, expenditures, and achievements to the taxpayer. NATO is also not yet transparent and public accountable for its financial management. It is not clear what NATO entities achieve or whether they give value for money. This is because most of NATO’s financial and organisational information is undisclosed. Some of this information is considered too sensitive to disclose to the public; but there is also information which is not deemed sensitive, but is simply not disclosed.
We urge NATO to consider which undisclosed, non-sensitive information could be disclosed to the public. NATO should also consider publishing consolidated financial statements and providing insight into the performance delivered for the millions of Euros of public money being spent. This transparency would enhance NATO’s accountability to taxpaying citizens. It would also further highlight the results of the transatlantic alliance and NATO’s relevance, justifying public spending.
The Netherlands Court of Audit said it monitors what the Netherlands spends on NATO activities, but has no mandate to audit NATO. It is involved in advising the International Board of Auditors for NATO (IBAN). “Together with IBAN and other Supreme Audit Institutions of member countries we have been concluding for several years that NATO’s financial management is not in order.”
The website is intended to “trigger a public discussion on NATO’s performance by presenting taxpayers with a comprehensive overview of NATO’s present level of transparency and public accountability. Our long-term goal is to stimulate NATO to become more transparent and accountable to the public, without compromising the security of its activities.”
Filed under: IFTI Watch