Brussels, 15/05/2001 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday, in Strasbourg, the European Commission adopted a report that sheds light on the strong increase, in 2000, in fraud to the detriment of the Community budget. The report on the protection of the EU's financial interests and the fight against fraud notes 6,955 new cases dealt with by the Member States and the Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF), with an overall budgetary impact estimated at over EUR 2 billion. The level of fraud and irregularities is considered without precedent by the Commission, which reproaches Member States for not using the information system allowing to distinguish between serious cases of fraud and simple irregularities. For the year 2000, the Member States noted 6,587 suspected cases of fraud. The United Kingdom may be considered as the most conscientious country, since there were no less than 496 cases for a total of EUR 349 million, followed by Germany (482 cases for EUR 57 million). Greece did not reveal any cases of fraud. OLAF has dealt with 368 new dossiers which have turned out to be criminal. EUROPE will come back to this.