Foreword

• Author: European Anti-Fraud Office (European Commission)
• Pages: 3-3

3

th Annual Report on the Protection of the European Union’s financial interests — Fight against fraud 

Foreword

Over the past 3 0 years, the protec tion of the European U nion’s f‌inancial interes ts has been

a priority for th e European Commission. Ensur ing that the EU budget is being s pent in the

most ef‌fecti ve manner is not optional; it is an o bligation for both t he institutions and th e

Member States . It is vital in order to preser ve and promote citizens’ tr ust in the EU.

During its ma ndate, the Ju ncker Commission ha s paid part icular atte ntion to the p rotec-

tion of the EU’s f‌in ancial interests. The a nti-fraud landscape ha s been strengthened wi th

the adoptio n of the directive on the pro tection of the EU’s f‌inan cial interests by means of

criminal law (PI F directive), th e establish ment of the Euro pean Public Pr osecutor ’s Of‌f‌ice

by enhanced coo peration, t he proposal t o amend the OL AF Regul ation (Regul ation (EU,

Euratom) No 883 /2013) and the ad option of the n ew Commission An ti-Fraud Str ategy.

Furtherm ore, this Commissi on has launc hed the “EU B udget Focus ed On Results ” (BFOR)

initiative, in ord er to join ef‌forts of EU institu tions, governments and c ivil society towards

better spen ding, increa sed account ability and t ransparen cy, and creating a m aximum

added value for EU c itizens.

The motivati on for the Commissio n’s actions has be en consistent t hroughout t he years:

to protect t he EU budget from fraudsters a nd ensure that E uropean mon ey reaches pro -

jects that a f‌fect citizen s’ lives in Europe a nd beyond. T he yearly achievem ents of the

Commission and t he Member Stat es and the mea sures taken t o pursue this g oal are

showcased in t he annual reports on t he protection of the EU’s f‌in ancial interests, the so -

called PIF rep orts. They are pre sented by the Commission to t he European Parliame nt and

the Council , under Article 325 of the Treaty on t he Functioning of the EU. T he f‌irst repor t

was published 3 0 years ago, back in 1990.

From the sett ing-up of th e Commission’s Ant i-Fraud Coord ination Unit (U CLAF) i n 1988,

and then of it s successor, the European Ant i-Fraud Of‌f‌ice (OLAF ) in 1999, to the adoption

of the latest C ommission Anti -Fraud Strate gy, the Commission ha s been contin uously

developing the U nion’s anti-frau d system in coop eration with i ts stakeho lders, in par-

ticular the o ther Europea n institut ions and the Me mber States. Year a er year, the PIF

reports h ave testif‌ied to these ef‌for ts at European and nation al level and they have been

progressively enr iched with thorough a nd informative analyses of irr egularities and fraud

detected a nd report ed by the Memb er States to draw up e vidence-b ased recom menda-

tions to all player s.

As we are moving t o the next stage of the f‌ig ht against fraud, with newly e merging types

of fraud to tack le and a new institutiona l landscape, the Com mission, the Member States,

as well as OL AF and the EPPO, will have all key r oles to play.

I am pleased to c elebrate with you the 30t h anniversary of the PIF r eport and I invite you

to discover more on t he following pages.

Günther Oettinger,

European Un ion Commissioner for Budget an d Human Resou rces