Auditors refuse to sign off EU accounts for the 19th year in a row and reveal rate of unexplained spending has risen 23% in a year Report shows error rate risen from 3.9 per cent to 4.8 per cent Rural spending was the worst area with £1 billion wasted British taxpayers will be liable for £800million, it is reported Misspending and wasting money in the EU is getting worse, according to the latest annual report by auditors who have again refused to sign off the accounts. The report reveals the amount of unexplained spending has risen and the books have not been given a clean bill of health for the 19th year in a row. British taxpayers will be liable for £800million. Questionable: The annual report reveals the amount of unexplained spending has risen and the books have not been given a clean bill of health for the 19th year in a row The Court of Auditors report, published this morning, shows that the rate of questionable spending - the so-called error rate - has increased substantially from 3.9 per cent to 4.8 per cent. That is a rise of 23 per cent in a year and the fourth increase in succession. Britain will have to pay £832million from the £5.7billion total misspend, the Telegraph reports. Some 0.3 per cent of the increase is blamed on new sampling methods, but Conservative MEPs said the underlying increase remained 'shameful and unacceptable'. Rural spending was the worst area, with 7.9 per cent of the €15 billion (£12.6billion) rural development expenditure made in error. This means about £1 billion was wrongly paid out by beaurocrats. 6.8 percent of the €40.7 billion (£34.3billion) spent on regional policy, energy and transport was also spent in error. That mistake cost more than £2 billion. Critics have hit out at the 'shambolic' system and have raised questions about how money is spent in the EU. Attack: David Cameron also attacked the refusal of the European Commission to make cuts to its bloated bureaucracy at a time when countries are slashing the cost of governments at home The European Commission is forecasting the recovery across the 28-countries will continue into the second half of the year, albeit at a slowpace. The executive arm of the European Union said it expects the region's economy to grow by 0.5 per cent over the second half of the year and be flat for the whole year. In its previous forecast in May, it predicted a 0.1 percent annual decline. It also expects the 17-country Eurozone to continue its recovery from recession in quarterly terms. However, over 2013 as a whole, the Eurozone is still expected to have contracted 0.4 per cent. In 2014 though, it is penciling in 1.1 percent growth. The Eurozone's unemployment is expected to remain at its record-high of 12.2 per cent this year and next. Last year, the European Court of Auditors said the budget was riddled with fraud and error - and that the situation was getting worse. Tory critics said the finding strengthened the case for going beyond a freeze and cutting the EU's vast budget. David Cameron also attacked the refusal of the European Commission to make cuts to its bloated bureaucracy at a time when countries are slashing the cost of governments at home. Philip Bradbourn MEP, Conservative spokesman on Budgetary control, said: 'Another year, another story of lax monitoring and shambolic control. I understand full well that much of the misspending occurs when member states fail to exercise proper supervision of spending within their borders, but the fact is that the EU must accept ultimate responsibility for what happens to the money it dishes out. Every year we are told the Commission is serious about tackling the problem. Every year it gets still worse. It is shameful to the EU's integrity and unacceptable to its taxpayers. If you found misappropriation and mis-spending on this scale in a commercial business - or in a properly-accountable public administration - there would be sackings all round. In Brussels, it's "Carry on Squandering."' UKIP's Nigel Farage added: 'It is about time the peoples of Europe were able to get this EU albatross off their backs, or at least out of their pockets.'