There may be fewer errors in the EU’s accounts for 2013 but this cannot yet be seen as a good development, Dutch finance minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem has said in a briefing to MPs.

Earlier this month, the EU audit office again refused to sign off the 2013 accounts because of the high proportion of errors. The auditor calculated 4.7% of the EU’s 2013 budget was wrongly spent – the equivalent of €7bn. The previous year’s figure was 4.8%.

‘This relative stability in the percentage of errors should not, as far as I am concerned, be seen as a step in the right direction,’ Dijsselbloem said. ‘That will only be the case when major advances are made in reducing the errors made by member states and increasing transparency.’

Dijsselbloem also told MPs he would continue to call for improvements in the way member states justify their spending and more insight into country-specific data.

The European auditors rejected the accounts last week for the 20th year in a row.