In Brussels, on Thursday 21 June, the MEPs of the committee on budgetary control of the European Parliament adopted, by 12 votes to two with two abstentions, a draft resolution in which they call upon the Commission to consider giving the EU more influence over customs management, to better tackle fraud against the EU budget.
A recent investigation by the European anti-fraud office (OLAF) revealed that the EU budget lost €1.987 billion due to the undervaluation of textiles and shoes imported from China to the United Kingdom between 2013 and 2016.
According to the draft resolution to be voted on in plenary, the MEPs welcome the infringement proceedings launched by the Commission on 8 March of this year in response to the affair. However, they regret the fact that it will take up to ten years for the money to be recovered.
With OLAF currently investigating a similar case concerning the Greek port of Piraeus, the MEPs consider that customs fraud is by no means limited to the cases that come to light.
The MEPs urged the Commission to ensure that the member states harmonise the customs authorities' application of the common rules and to produce estimates of the customs gap and reported to the Parliament twice a year, from 2019 onwards. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)