Changes from plenary report to adopted text

91. Is concerned about the increasing number of cases concerning the RRF; appreciates the timely information provided to the Commission and to the relevant Parliament Committees on this matter; believes that the large number of active cases involving RRF funds justifies an intensification of the exchanges held with, in particular, the Recovery and Resilience Task Force, with the aim of identifying possible oversight or control gaps or fraud patterns and to allow the Commission to keep up to date its performance monitoring mechanisms and to enforce the reduction and recovery measures recently designed; reiterates that RRF funds are Union and not national funds and are under the jurisdiction of the EPPO and encourages the Commission and other Union’s bodies and authorities to increase the detection efforts and report to the EPPO every relevant situation;

92. Welcomes that the EPPO signed Working Arrangement with Parliament in November 2024, establishing clear modalities of cooperation for the purpose of protecting the Union’s financial interests;

93. Notes that, in 2023, the EPPO continued to rely on inter-institutional contracts and bilateral agreements (SLAs) to purchase goods and services at a lower cost; observes that, at the end of 2023, the EPPO had 80 active membership in inter-institutional framework contracts and 22 service-level agreement or other bilateral agreements with other Union’s entities with the aim of maximising budgetary savings from the contractual instruments in place, in line with the principles of sound financial management;

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Changed93.94. Strongly welcomes the participation of Poland and Sweden in the EPPO; is aware that this will have an impact on the EPPO’s budgetary needs, and supports the EPPO’s request which aims to equip the EPPO with the necessary resources to take advantage of the participation of Poland and Sweden to its operational activities; notes that while Ireland and Denmark continue to exercise their opt-out from the EPPO under Protocols No 21 and No 22 TFEU, Hungary is the sole remaining Member State that has not yet joined the EPPO; calls on the Hungarian government to join the EPPO without further delay; recalls the collection of 680 000 signatures in favour of joining the EPPO, underscoring a strong societal demand for enhanced legal safeguards against fraud and corruption affecting the Union’s financial interests;

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Changed94.95. Observes that, in 2023, no major improvement towards participation into the EPPO has occurred with the Irish authorities; reminds that their refusal to cooperate with the EPPO in executing several requests for mutual legal assistance sent by the EDPs had resulted in the EPPO reporting the situation to the Commission in accordance with Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2020/2092;2020/2092 of the European Parliament and of the Council ; appreciated the following decision of the Irish authorities to amend their domestic legislation providing the legal framework for mutual legal assistance to the EPPO and underlines that from 1 November 2023 it provides mutual legal assistance to the EPPO based on this unilateral recognition; notes that no exchanges occurred with the Irish inter-agency working group established to examine Ireland'sIreland’s potential future participation in the EPPO; urges the Commission, the EPPO and the Irish authorities to engage in a constructive dialogue to find an effective way of cooperation;

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96. Maintains that any lack of cooperation with the EPPO by any of the Member States, whether they are participating in the enhanced cooperation that established the EPPO, creates niches of immunity and privilege that make the defence of the financial interests of the Union uneven and inefficient at best; reiterates its call on the Commission and the Member States concerned to make any possible effort to integrate the current scenario with the few but still very important missing components, promoting the extension of the participation in the EPPO by the other still non-participating Member States in such a way that strengthens the effectiveness of the protection of the Union and national budgets; calls on the Commission to closely monitor Member States’ level of cooperation with the EPPO and urges the Commission to initiate infringement proceedings against any Member State that systematically obstructs EPPO-led investigations; takes the view that membership of the EPPO should be a precondition for receiving Union funds;

97. Condemns the recently reported systematic espionage organized by the Hungarian government against OLAF staff during an investigative mission into the potential misuse of Union funds by ELIOS, a company linked to the Hungarian Prime Minister’s son-in-law; emphasizes that OLAF and the EPPO, as cornerstone institutions of the Union’s anti-fraud architecture, are regrettably exposed to such threats not only from third countries but also within EU Member States; stresses that such actions gravely undermine the rule of law and the integrity of Union institutions; calls for the swift establishment of robust protection measures to safeguard Union’s institutional staff on mission in Member States and to prevent such unacceptable violations in the future;

Communication

98. Observes that the EPPO engages in continuous efforts to enhance internal and external communication; appreciates the actions carried out via social network platforms and encourages the EPPO to maintain its proactive and transparent approach;

99. Believes that explanations about the EPPO’s interventions and operations and about their background, when reported in the media and posted on social networks, would contribute to reinforcing the reputation of the institutions amongst citizens and raise awareness in taxpayers about the complexity of the protection of the Union’s financial interests;

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Changed99.100. Maintains that proper and accurate communication from the EPPO would also increase the involvement of civil society and increase submission of potential investigative input; understands that the EPPO asks to have the reporting option included in every standard presentation for external audiences or at conferences and seminars, when possible and appropriate; notes that, in 2023, the EPPO'sEPPO’s corporate website underwent a complete redesign, with the primary focus on enhancing accessibility and user-friendliness, and that the option to report a crime is now prominently displayed at the top of every webpage together with a banner highlighting this feature in the homepage;

101. Observes that the level of the EPPO’s resources that are devoted to communication are limited, and that, in view of the need to establish the EPPO’s digital autonomy, management of the EPPO website will have to be brought in-house, requiring additional resources, after DG Digital Services cease providing that service; underlines that the increasing volume and the sensitivity of EPPO investigations calls for attention in exchanges with the media, journalists, citizens and academia; reiterates its call on the EPPO to clearly strike the best possible balance between transparency and public interest on the one hand and confidentiality and proper conduct of the investigation on the other, and to ensure the neutrality of its communications about its activities;

102. Recalls the importance of transparency in the EPPO’s interactions with external actors; calls for the establishment of a mandatory public register of all meetings between EPPO officials and representatives of third parties, including lobbyists and national government representatives, in order to prevent undue influence and reinforce public trust in the EPPO’s independence;

Effect of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine

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Changed102.103. BelievesRecalls that EPPO competences extend to Union funds even when used in third countries; believes that the working arrangements with the Ukrainian competent authorities could effectively enhance the level of protection of the Union’s financial interests following the relevant commitments undertaken to support Ukraine and its population; welcomes the efforts undertaken by the Ukrainian authorities on anti-corruption measures, but recalls that the country is still subject to high rate of corruption and fraud, demanding extra precaution to be taken and further anti-corruption measure in order to successfully reach transparency goals; is aware that transmission of evidence has occurred in execution of mutual legal assistance requests and welcomes the perspective of activating a joint task force with the Ukrainian authorities to coordinate investigations; reminds the Commission and other Union institutions bodies, offices and agencies of the importance of detection and timely submission of investigative input to the EPPO.