The watchdog that monitors how EU money is spent has called for an overhaul of the EU budget, with a greater focus on key areas.

The European Court of Auditors has to sign off on the EU’s accounts every year and its report for 2014 was released on Tuesday.

The ECA’s president, Vítor Caldeira, a former high-ranking official in the Portuguese finance ministry, called for the EU’s budget to focus on the main challenges that the bloc is facing — the economy, climate change and the migration crisis. He said the EU has too many priorities, which makes it more difficult to be efficient.

“We cannot afford business as usual,” Caldeira told reporters, calling for a “wholly new approach” to the EU budget.

After Caldeira’s presentation, the ECA report was discussed by MEPs on the budgetary control committee and Kristalina Georgieva, the European Commission vice-president for budget and human resources.

The talks focused on the mistakes made when handling EU funds. The report found that the error rate in EU budget payments was 4.4 percent — the same figure as for the past three years.

The ECA has long been critical of how EU money is spent on projects with limited added-value such as motorways that do not lead to an increase in traffic, airports that are not busy and even golf courses. “We should use EU funds not because they are here and available, but based on their impacts,” the ECA report said

“The main obstacle for the budget to be efficient and used at its best … is the difficulty of the Parliament and the Council to establish clear objectives” said an ECA source.

The EU annual budget process starts with a proposal from the Commission. Then the Council and the Parliament make their offers, and all sides try to find agreement.

The Parliament and Council began budget negotiations October 29. They have until November 18 to strike a deal. If they don’t, the Commission will have to come up with another proposal.