On Friday 18 September, the European Commission published its first evaluation of the functioning of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO), which was set up in June 2021.
According to this document, the EPPO has made it possible to deal more effectively with fraud affecting the financial interests of the European Union, particularly when such cases concern several countries.
Over four years, its activity has increased sharply, as the number of investigations opened rose from 576 in 2021 to 2030 in 2025, while the sums covered by freezing orders increased from €147.3 million to €1.13 billion.
Moreover, over the same period, the number of indictments rose from five to 275, and the number of convictions secured from one to 159. However, this increase has resulted in a workload far higher than the initial estimates. Indeed, whereas around 970 active cases per year had been anticipated from 2023 onwards, the EPPO was handling 3,602 by the end of 2025. Nevertheless, the Commission notes that the Office has “generally used its allocated resources efficiently to attain its objectives”.
There are, however, several possible improvements, with support from national authorities remaining “uneven across Member States” and certain differences in the application of the regulation liable to delay the opening of investigations. The Commission also considers that “further efficiency gains are possible” in the EPPO’s digital infrastructure, especially in its case management system.
The evaluation report on the EPPO: https://aeur.eu/f/nig
The staff working document accompanying the evaluation: https://aeur.eu/f/nih (Original version in French by Nithya Paquiry)