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DRAFT REPORT (2026/2006(INI))

On the Protection of the Union’s financial interests in the post-2027 multiannual financial framework through the revision of the anti-fraud architecture

CONT-PR-790202

Committee on Budgetary Control · Rapporteur: Tomáš Zdechovský, Dick Erixon

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A draft report by Parliament's Committee on Budgetary Control sets out Parliament's priorities for revising the EU's anti-fraud architecture (AFA) ahead of the post-2027 multiannual financial framework. It endorses the reform areas in the Commission's White Paper COM(2025)0546 and asks the Commission to act on governance, coordination, recovery and reporting. It calls for a common intake mechanism (a Joint Intake AFA Register), a single secure digital reporting channel, and a graduated, time-bound suspension of OLAF investigative measures during EPPO investigations instead of the current prohibition. It asks for a Consolidated AFA Annual Report with common system-level KPIs, timed to feed Parliament's discharge procedure, and for a yearly AFA Plenary of high-level representatives of all AFA components. It calls for a comply-or-explain rule for OLAF financial recommendations and EPPO judgment implementations, stronger centralised recovery monitoring, and a common AI governance framework for AFA tools.

Committee position. The rapporteur proposes that Parliament endorse the Commission White Paper's reform areas and set out its priorities for the AFA revision, including a Joint Intake AFA Register, a graduated suspension framework for EPPO-OLAF interaction, a Consolidated AFA Annual Report and stronger recovery monitoring.

Key points

  1. Affirms the AFA protects the Union budget across prevention, detection, investigation, prosecution and recovery, on both expenditure and revenue sides.
  2. Says AFA components with wider mandates take part only in their PIF-relevant functions, and that extending EPPO or OLAF mandates to organised crime needs a unanimous European Council decision with Parliament's consent or a separate legislative act.
  3. Urges the Commission to address the governance deficit identified by ECA Special Report 26/2025: no system-level accountability, no measurable outcomes, and no overview of components' strategies.
  4. Maintains no AFA component may receive instructions from any political authority on opening, conducting or closing an individual investigation, and distinguishes operational from administrative independence.
  5. Calls for coordination between AFA components through information exchange, referral, simultaneous notification, and structured data for the Consolidated AFA Annual Report, and for aggregate reporting to the budgetary authority.
  6. Calls on the Commission to assess a common intake mechanism, a Joint Intake AFA Register, that is administrative and not investigative, and to explore joint EPPO-OLAF initial handling of information.
  7. Calls for a single secure digital reporting channel with automatic receipt, recording and routing, and whistleblower protection from first submission.
  8. Calls on the Commission to replace the current prohibition on parallel OLAF investigations with a graduated, time-bound suspension framework, reflected in the revised EPPO and OLAF Regulations.
  9. Calls on EPPO and OLAF to establish, as an interim measure, a joint operational protocol on notification, deadlines, shareable information and dispute escalation.
  10. Calls on Member States without a National Anti-Fraud Strategy to adopt one, and on the Commission to promote their adoption and updating.
  11. Calls for a common AI governance framework for AFA tools with mandatory human oversight, explainability, bias auditing, alignment with the AI Act and event-logging.
  12. Calls for a comply-or-explain principle for OLAF financial recommendations and EPPO judgment implementations, with reasoned explanations for missed deadlines and possible financial corrections or infringement proceedings.

Who is affected

  • AFA components including EPPO, OLAF, Europol, Eurojust and AMLA: their mandates, independence and coordination duties are addressed.
  • Member States: asked to adopt National Anti-Fraud Strategies and to act on OLAF recommendations and EPPO judgments.
  • The Commission: asked to revise the AFA legal framework and report back to the Committee on Budgetary Control.
  • Recipients of Union funds, including contractors and subcontractors: transparency and publication requirements are sought for them.
  • Whistleblowers and investigative journalists: protection from first submission and a secure reporting channel are called for.

Figures and deadlines

  • COM(2025)0546, the Commission White Paper for the Anti-Fraud Architecture Review.
  • ECA Special Report 26/2025, cited on the governance deficit.
  • 2028–2034 MFF sectoral regulations, in which transparency and publication requirements should be strengthened.
  • AFA review Communication expected before the end of 2026.

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