The European Parliament today called for a strict policy of combating fraud and efficient measures to reduce the number of irregularities in the EU budget.
The Annual report on the protection of the EU’s financial interests points out that in 2013 the non-fraudulent irregularities reported amounted to €1.84 billion while fraudulent irregularities involved a financial impact of €309 million.
S&D Euro MP Georgi Pirinski, who drafted the European Parliament's resolution, said:
"We urgently need to strengthen the measures in place to combat cases of fraud and to pursue a policy of zero tolerance. At the same time we highlight the necessity of upgrading the administrative capacities of member states and simplifying EU rules in order to facilitate better compliance and drastically reduce non-fraudulent irregularities.
"We give equal importance to reducing irregularities on the revenue side of the EU budget and concerning expenditures. There must be a determined effort to improve detection and reporting practices by member states and to introduce common criteria and guidelines for the objective interpretation of reported irregularities — while avoiding naming and shaming countries.
"We support the Commission's stated intention to further improve the framework and to increase efforts to combat fraud and diminish irregularities, as well as to vigorously tackle corruption within the European institutions.
"We call on the supervisory committee of OLAF (the European Anti-Fraud Office) to report to Parliament where there are any delays from OLAF in reacting to signs of fraud, as well as regarding concerns about data accuracy and methodology."
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