On Thursday, 31 January, the European Parliament celebrated the reduction in EU budget fraud since 2014 but hopes that this is not a matter of diminished detection efficiency.
In Brussels, the Parliament adopted the report by Marian-Jean Marinescu (EPP, Romania) assessing the Annual Report 2017 on the protection of the European Union’s financial interests (see EUROPE 12087).
It notes with satisfaction that the total number of fraudulent and non-fraudulent irregularities reported in 2017 (15,213 cases) was 20.8% lower than in 2016 (19,080 cases) and that their value had decreased by 13% (from €2.97 billion in 2016 to €2.58 billion in 2017).
The Parliament notes the significant year-on-year decrease of 19.3% in the number of irregularities reported as fraudulent, “which continued the downward trend seen since 2014”. It hopes that this decrease “reflects a genuine reduction in fraud and not deficiencies in terms of detection”. However, MEPs deplore the fact that more than half of Member States have not adopted national anti-fraud strategies (NAFS). (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)