In Strasbourg on Tuesday 16 May, the European Parliament expressed concern at the steep rise (+36%) in the number of fraudulent and non-fraudulent irregularities reported in 2015.
Adopting the report by Julia Pitera (EPP, Poland) on the 2015 annual report on the fight against fraud, Parliament states that the number of irregularities has increased sharply due to specific issues in the field of the cohesion policy within two member states. The amounts concerned by the irregularities (€3.21 billion) were down 1% compared to 2014.
Parliament expresses grave concerns at the fact that the number of irregularities flagged up for the agricultural and rural development funds has risen for each of at least five consecutive years (1,970 cases notified in 2011 to 4,612 cases in 2015). It urges the member states for which the highest numbers of 'non-fraudulent' irregularities were reported – Romania, Italy, Spain, Poland, Hungary, Portugal and Lithuania – to resolve the situation as a matter of urgency.
Corruption. In its adoption of an amendment tabled by the Greens/EFA group, Parliament calls on the Commission to carry out a more in-depth analysis, both at EU and member state level, of the environment in which the policies are implemented, to identify critical factors, vulnerable areas and risk factors contributing to corruption. The EU is also encouraged to present its application to join the Group of State Against corruption (GRECO) of the Council of Europe as soon as possible.
Whistleblowers. Parliament again calls on the Commission to present a legislative proposal on the protection of whistleblowers as soon as possible in order to prevent and effectively to fight fraud that is harmful to the financial interests of the EU. The MEPs welcome the fact that the Parliament, Commission, Council, Court of Justice, Court of Auditors, European External Action Service, European Economic and Social Committee, Committee of the Regions, European Ombudsman, European Data Protection Controller and the majority of EU agencies have set internal rules in place to protect whistleblowers.
Not all fraud is detected or reported. During the debate the day before, Rapporteur Pitera said that according to the Commission's 2015 report, the volume of fraud against the EU budget represents €640 million a year. “Unfortunately, the figure is actually likely to be higher, as not all cases are detected or reported”. She expressed concern at VAT ('carousel') fraud, agricultural fund fraud and irregularities related to the common fisheries policy. She regretted the fact that the cohesion policy has seen a sharp increase in the number of non-fraudulent irregularities. “We need to put an end to these disturbing trends”, she stressed.
On behalf of the Commission, Commissioner Marianne Thyssen pointed out that the defence framework of the financial interests of the EU has been tightened up in recent years (reform of the European anti-fraud office, delegated acts on reporting irregularities, fighting customs fraud). She stressed that negotiations on the European prosecutor's office had made good progress (17 EU countries are willing to create it through reinforced cooperation). The Commission acknowledged that the “data reported by the member states are still not fully comparable and takes note of the request of the Parliament to improve the situation”. New guidelines are being prepared in cooperation with national experts to help “reduce disparities and standardise the reporting process”. She said that the document was expected to be finalised this year. Budget Commissioner Günther Oettinger will meet Pitera early in June to continue the discussion on “how to improve the protection of the EU's financial interests”, Thyssen concluded. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)