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DRAFT REPORT (2023/2045(INI))

On the Protection of the European Union’s financial interests - combating fraud - annual report 2022

CONT-PR-753468

Committee on Budgetary Control · Rapporteur: Maria Grapini

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The draft report is Parliament's resolution on the Commission's 2022 annual report on protecting the EU's financial interests and fighting fraud. It reviews fraud and irregularity figures for revenue and spending, and sets out recommendations on digitalisation, anti-fraud bodies, the Recovery and Resilience Facility, and cooperation with international partners. It notes 12 455 reported fraud and irregularity cases in 2022, affecting EUR 1.77 billion, and calls for better risk analysis, follow-up and reporting by member states. It asks the Commission to remove or substantially lower the EUR 10 million VAT fraud threshold for the European Public Prosecutor's Office, and to update guidelines for national anti-fraud coordination services. It calls for stronger controls on Recovery and Resilience Facility spending, on funds for non-EU countries and Ukraine, and for member states to adopt national anti-fraud strategies.

Committee position. The rapporteur proposes that Parliament welcome the 2022 PIF Report and call for stronger digitalisation, better member state follow-up and reporting, removal or lowering of the EUR 10 million VAT threshold, updated anti-fraud coordination guidelines, and closer cooperation with the EPPO, OLAF and international partners.

Key points

  1. Welcomes the Commission's 2022 PIF Report and its earlier publication, and shares the view that fraud prevention and detection need more digitalisation and better coordination across the anti-fraud architecture.
  2. Notes that reported fraud and irregularity cases rose slightly to 12 455 in 2022, while the affected financing fell to EUR 1.77 billion from EUR 3.24 billion in 2021.
  3. Regrets that many member states do not follow up on Commission recommendations, report exhaustively or adopt good practices, and that many irregularities remain classified as suspected fraud for years.
  4. Calls for civil society, whistleblowers and investigative journalists to be supported and given access to project, beneficiary and payment information to improve fraud detection.
  5. Calls on the Commission to harmonise assessment of organised crime's impact on EU funds, and reiterates calls to revise Council Framework Decision 2008/841/JHA on fighting organised crime.
  6. Notes that in 2018-2022 the Irregularity Management System recorded 375 conflict-of-interest cases, mostly in cohesion policy, involving almost EUR 117 million.
  7. Notes that Traditional Own Resources irregularities rose 7.6% above the five-year average, with affected amounts up 47% to EUR 783 million and a 48% recovery rate in 2022.
  8. Calls on the Commission to reconsider the EUR 10 million VAT fraud threshold, remove or substantially lower it, and provide guidance on how it is calculated.
  9. Notes that in 2022 the greatest number of irregularities affected the European Regional Development Fund, and that transport, environmental protection and research are the areas most at risk.
  10. Welcomes the Europol-OLAF joint analysis of NextGenerationEU risks and calls on the Commission, EU agencies and member states to cooperate on protecting EU financial interests.
  11. Calls on the Commission to press member states without national anti-fraud strategies to adopt and update them, and to update the 2015 guidelines for anti-fraud coordination services.
  12. Takes note of the Council's decision to suspend EUR 6.3 billion of EU funds to Hungary, and says the 17 negotiated measures are not sufficient to address systemic risk.

Who is affected

  • Member states, which must improve reporting, follow-up, recovery and adoption of national anti-fraud strategies.
  • The Commission, which is asked to act on VAT thresholds, anti-fraud coordination guidelines and monitoring of funds.
  • The European Public Prosecutor's Office and OLAF, whose cooperation and reporting Parliament wants strengthened.
  • Countries receiving pre-accession and neighbourhood funds, including Ukraine, Albania, North Macedonia and Türkiye.
  • Hungary, whose suspended EU funds depend on evidence that remedial measures work in practice.

Figures and deadlines

  • 12 455 cases of fraud and irregularities reported in 2022
  • EUR 1.77 billion affected financing in 2022, down from EUR 3.24 billion in 2021
  • EUR 10 million threshold for EPPO competence in serious VAT fraud cases
  • 375 conflict-of-interest cases reported via the Irregularity Management System in 2018-2022, involving almost EUR 117 million
  • Traditional Own Resources irregularities up 7.6% above the five-year average, amounts up 47% to EUR 783 million, recovery rate 48% in 2022
  • EUR 6.3 billion of EU funds to Hungary suspended by Council decision of 16 December 2022
  • EUR 360 million in fines paid by Poland since 2021 for non-compliance with Court of Justice rulings
  • EUR 15.4 million for the Hercule component, EUR 9 million for the Anti-Fraud Information System and about EUR 1 million for the Irregularity Management System in the 2022 Financing Decision

Legal basis: Articles 310(6) and 325(5) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union