Auditors have said the European Union has failed to keep tight enough control over its own spending, BBC News reported.

The European Court of Auditors said there were errors in allocating about 5bn euros (£4bn) from the 2011 budget.

Critics said it showed the EU's wastefulness, at a time when it was arguing for a budget increase.

Court President Vitor Caldeira said: "With Europe's public finances under severe pressure, there remains scope to spend EU money more efficiently."

He added: "Member states must agree on better rules for how EU money is spent, and member states and the commission must enforce them properly."

The court's report said most errors arose from "misapplication or misunderstanding" of the EU's complex rules, though there were some suspected cases of fraud.

It also said the failures were often down to the national and local governments responsible for overseeing the distribution of funds, rather than just the European Commission.

"A little more effort by member states to control projects properly and retrieve misused funds could go a long way, particularly in this time of economic difficulty," said the EU's Audit Commissioner Algirdas Semeta.