In 2024, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) opened 1,504 new investigations, an increase of almost 10% in one year, corresponding to damage estimated at €13.07 billion, according to its annual report published on Monday 3 March.
In terms of fraud, the EPPO processed 6,547 crime reports, an increase of 56% in one year. Only 27% of these reports come from national authorities and less than 1% from European institutions.
Tackling VAT fraud accounted for more than 53% of the estimated damage in current investigations, confirming the systematic involvement of organised criminal groups.
Increased cooperation between the EPPO and national authorities, as well as increased targeting of criminal organisations involved in VAT and EU funds fraud, are thought to be the main reasons for this increase.
The EPPO has stepped up its collaboration with Europol and Eurojust. It recorded 149 exchanges of information for the collection of evidence and 235 interactions as part of the ‘hit/no-hit’ system, the aim of which is to avoid parallel investigations.
Agreements have also been signed with new partners, such as Moldova’s National Anti-Corruption Centre and the Seychelles Anti-Corruption Commission, to strengthen the fight against international financial crime.
While the absence of certain non-participating Member States remains an issue for the coordination of cross-border investigations, the accession of Poland and Sweden at the end of the year (see EUROPE 13544/28) brought the number of participating Member States to 24.
The EPPO has also maintained its efforts to improve the recovery of the proceeds of crime. In 2024, judges granted European Delegated Prosecutors freezing orders totalling €2.42 billion.
EPPO also took part in a number of meetings with the European institutions, in particular with the European Parliament’s Committees on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) and Budgetary Control (CONT), to assess the effectiveness of the current regulatory framework.
In October 2024, an annual review of cooperation between the EPPO and the European Commission led to a revision of the working agreement to enable the Commission to take corrective action more quickly.
Faced with this increase, the lack of resources remains a major problem, as Chief Prosecutor Laura Kövesi pointed out in a press release, calling for the EPPO’s capacity to be adapted.
“After more than three years of activity, which have uncovered a new continent of crime, the capacity of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office needs to be adapted to reality”, she said.
In 2023, the question of financial resources had already been raised by Ms Kövesi (see EUROPE 13148/11). Two years later, the situation remains similar. The EPPO, “designed small to deal with what was commonly considered a ‘niche’ criminality”, in the words of Ms Kövesi in the preamble to the report, has uncovered massive fraud, but its ability to deal with it will depend on decisions taken at European level to strengthen its operational framework and its human and financial resources.
Link to the report: https://aeur.eu/f/fpr (Original version in French by Nithya Paquiry)