Brussels, 01/09/2004 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday, Budget Commissioner Michaele Schreyer presented the 2003 report and the 2004-2005 action plan on the fight against fraud to the press, along with several recent proposals, including the one to boost co-ordination between the Member States in this area. The report tells of a drop in cases on irregularities and fraud in 2003, but Ms Schreyer showed great prudence in the conclusions to be drawn from this.
Without going so far as to contest the veracity of the figures supplied by the Member States, Ms Schreyer called to order the countries which are not respecting the notification procedures. She referred to the problems encountered with Germany (in the field of customs duty) and Greece (agricultural expenditure). Ms Schreyer pointed out the following facts: "there have been years in which countries have not communicated any cases of fraud or irregularities" (which tends to show up failures in the data transmission system, she added), and it is often the case that Member States "act too late" (some countries wait a year, but irregularities are supposed to be communicated quarterly). Ms Schreyer concluded that no country is fully respecting the full set of data notification rules for fraud and irregularities.
Ms Schreyer indicated that the number of cases of fraud notified by the Fifteen fell in 2003 on 2002, except concerning customs duty. The amounts in question fell in all fields (-21% for own resources and structural actions, and -14% for agricultural funds). However, the Commissioner added that the improvement for structural actions comes as no surprise. In 2002, Member States saw a relatively high number of fraud cases after the liquidation of outgoing programmes (1994-1999).
Here is a summary of the main statistical conclusions of the report on irregularities and fraud communicated by the fifteen Member States in 2003:
Traditional own resources (customs duty): 2453 cases were communicated to the Commission in 2003, an increase of 5% compared to 2002 (2335 cases). Belgium notified the highest number of cases (470), ahead of the Netherlands (411), Germany (300), Italy (226) and Spain (212). The sums called into question last year rose to 187 million EUR, representing a fall of 21% on 2002 (342 million EUR). The sums of money at stake were highest in Italy (76.2 million EUR), followed by Germany (53.7 million EUR), the Netherlands (46.4 million EUR), Spain (26.4 million EUR) and Belgium (20.8 million EUR). The Commission states that 72.5 million EUR of the 187 million have been recovered. Cigarettes and bananas remain the products involved in the highest number of fraudulent acts.
Agricultural expenditure: the number of notified cases fell 1.5% in 2003 (3237) compared to 2002 (3285 cases), and the sums in question totalled 170 million (0.39% of the agricultural budget), or a drop of 14% compared to 2002 (198 million EUR). Spain, France and Germany communicated the most cases, with 777, 729 and 663 cases respectively. Spain heads the list for sums of money (114 million EUR), mostly for incomplete documents in the field of additional payments to milk producers.
Structural actions: in 2003, cases of fraud in this field fell 46.6% (2487) on the previous year (4656). The sums at issue fell from 614 million EUR in 2002 to 500 million EUR in 2003 (of which 1239 cases and 224 million EUR in aid under the European Regional Development Fund, Feder). Germany remains the country which communicated the highest number of cases (766, including 491 under Feder), but came second for the sums of money at play (89.2 million EUR), a long way behind Greece (163 million EUR, mostly under the cohesion fund). The number of cases notified by the Netherlands fell from 932 in 2002 to 52 in 2003. The Commission notes an increase of 70% in cases communicated by Italy, thanks largely to an improvement in the Italian system of notification.
Furthermore, Ms Schreyer felt that the results of the 2001-2003 action plan on the fight against fraud were positive overall. Among the measures and initiatives taken in 2003, she referred to: the analysis of the Member States' control systems for the paying of structural funds; the setting up, by the European Anti-Fraud Office (Olaf) and DG Agriculture, of a "Task Force" responsible for recovering cases of irregularities communicated before 1 January 1999 in the field of agricultural expenditure. Ms Schreyer said that this task force's work had led to the recovery of 700 million EUR in agriculture expenditure in the 433 cases examined; -the inclusion in the draft Constitutional Treaty of a provision relative to the European Public Prosecution Office (article III-175).
The new action plan for 2004-05 puts forward the following priorities: improving the information flow between OLAF and the European institutions; fully guaranteeing the rights of individuals affected by an external or internal inquiry; strengthening OLAF's operational efficiency and enhancing the role of the Office's Supervisory Committee; improving the information flow between the Member States and the Commission, for example by amending the regulations on notification of irregularities; developing the Customs Investigations Information File (“FIDE”) and implementing the new Regulation concerning mutual administrative assistance in the field of VAT and the laundering of profits from Community fraud; developing the criminal-law protection of the Community's financial interests with the competent authorities in the Member States, for example by creating a European Prosecutor.
Ms Schreyer presented the draft regulation adopted on 19 July for strengthening the fight against fraud, via increased administrative cooperation with Member States and between them. According to the proposal, the competent national authorities in Member States will be obliged to exchange information (the Commission will have access to this information for better co-ordinating the activities of Member States in the area). this proposal covers Trans-national fraud in the field of VAT and the laundering of profits from Community fraud to the detriment of structural funds and other subsidies. This cooperation will focus on important Trans-national affairs (fiscal damages of at least EUR 500,000 in VAT fraud and EUR 100,000 in other cases.