Overview Of Measures Taken By Member States

• Year: 2022

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1. Introduction

Article 325(2) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union obliges Member States to take

the same measures to counter fraud that affects the EU’s financial interest as those used to protect their

own financial interests.

Paragraph 5 adds that the Commission, in cooperation with Member States, should submit every to the

European Parliament and the Council a report on the measures taken to implement this article.

To compile this document, the Commission has requested Member States to report up to three measures,

which they considered most important for the protection the EU’s financial interests. Their responses

were collected through a survey (also known as the PIF Questionnaire).

Member States also had the opportunity to briefly describe additional measures, if deemed necessary

and report case studies.

2. Overview of Measures Taken by Member States

2.1. National Anti-Fraud Strategies

Following the Commission’s sustained encouragement of Member States to adopt national anti-fraud

strategies (NAFS), in 2022, only three Member States indicated not to rely on any strategy for protecting

the EU’s financial interests. . For the other 24 Member States the approach taken varied widely.

15 Member States have a NAFS in place. Five reported that they were in the process of drafting, or

close to adopting one, while four additional Member States indicated that they have an alternative

strategy in place. Germany’s approach, based on regional and sectoral strategies, covers cohesion, the

recovery and resilience facility (RRF), and other fields. Cyprus and Sweden rely an anti-corruption

strategy also covering the EU’s financial interests, while Slovenia has drawn up a specific strategy for

RRF.

Table 1: Overview of the type of strategy pursued by Member States in their fight-against fraud and

the fields they cover.

Nine out of 15 NAFS were cross-cutting, covering the EU’s financial interests fully. The other national

strategies present different approaches, targeting specific or multiple sectors, such as expenditure

(shared management and RRF), customs or value added tax (VAT).

AT

BE

BG

CY CZ DE DK EE ES FI FR GR HR HU IE IT LT LU LV MT NL PL PT RO SE SI SK

National AFS

Regional AFS

Sectoral national

Sectoral regional

Anti-corruption

Other

Cohesion

Agriculture

Fisheries

Customs

VAT

RRF

Other

Type

Membe r State

Field

YES, NAFS YES

YES, other AFS NO

NO, but developing

NO, no plan