Changes from report parliamentary committee draft to plenary report

Removed80. Welcomes the strengthened cooperation with Europol; observes that the ODIN (Operational Digital Infrastructure Network) programme would enable to exploit fully the amount of data collected by EPPO in its investigations (more than 1000 terabytes and growing); notes that, in that framework, EPPO has identified possible crimes outside its competence, including organised crime, drug trafficking, illicit cigarette production, investment fraud, illegal gambling and prostitution (non-PIF offences), and others which have resulted in the transmission of several files as key evidence to ongoing national investigations and that 28 new cases have been initiated by national prosecution offices to further investigate those non-PIF offences, which are outside EPPO remit; understands that for this and other analyses, however, cooperation with Europol suffers from limitations stemming from national procedural criminal law and accessibility of the EPPO data owned; considers that while cooperation with Europol needs to be even further enhanced, it cannot fully substitute the development of the EPPO internal analytical platform, which remains material to a fast interpretation of the data collected during its investigations and the setting of operational strategies in cross-border cases requiring access to the EPPO’s entire CMS;

Added86. Encourages continued and enhanced cooperation between the EPPO and OLAF, in line with their respective regulations, and the obligation on OLAF to report, without undue delay, suspicions of criminal contact to the EPPO, in order to enable it to tackle fraud, corruption and financial crime affecting the Union’s financial interests; supports the further development of joint initiatives, information sharing and coordinated actions between the EPPO and OLAF, as such cooperation is vital in strengthening the protection of the Union’s financial interests and the Union’s fight against financial crime and to ensuring the effective and efficient use of Union resources.

Added87. Commends the close cooperation in 2023 between the EPPO and the Court of Auditors, resulting in the timely transmission of information on suspicions of criminal offences falling within the EPPO’s competences;

Added88. Expects that the working group established with the Commission, and the meetings on the implementation of the Commission-EPPO Working Arrangement, will ensure that EPPO notifications for the purpose of administrative recovery, as provided for by Article 103(2), point (c), of Regulation (EU) 2017/1939 will duly and effectively enable the Commission to maximise recovery to the Union budget, while complying with the confidentiality and proper conduct of the investigative actions; stresses that, in this specific regard, no feedback has been yet provided by either party, preventing the legislators from earning a comprehensive understanding of the underlying issues, including the specific amounts recovered annually by the Commission from Member States in cases of damage to the Union budget; highlights that the recovery of funds by national authorities remains under the Commission's responsibility, as mentioned in the Mission Letter to the Commissioner for Budget, Anti-Fraud and Public Administration, while the EPPO does not hold a mandate to follow up on the recovery process; calls on the Member States to strengthen cooperation and inform both the Commission and the EPPO of final confiscations; urges a revision of the relevant Regulations to clarify the EPPO’s role in the recovery process; and urges the EPPO and the Commission to adopt an agreed upon form of reporting to Parliament; understands that this could require appropriate development of the EPPO’s CMS, and asks the Commission to prioritise the allocation of resources to the EPPO to meet that need;

Added89. Welcomes the strengthened cooperation with Europol; observes that the ODIN (Operational Digital Infrastructure Network) programme would enable the full exploitation of the amount of data collected by the EPPO in its investigations (more than 1000 terabytes and growing); notes that, in that framework, the EPPO has identified possible crimes outside its competences, including organised crime, drug trafficking, illicit cigarette production, investment fraud, illegal gambling and prostitution (non-PIF offences), and others which have resulted in the transmission of several files as key evidence to ongoing national investigations and that 28 new cases have been initiated by national prosecution offices to further investigate those non-PIF offences, which are outside the EPPO’s remit; understands that for this and other analyses, however, cooperation with Europol suffers from limitations stemming from national procedural criminal law and accessibility of the EPPO data owned; underlines that the EPPO’s existing competence to investigate organised crime and money laundering linked to fraud affecting the Union’s financial interests should be supported through adequate resources and efficient cooperation with Europol; considers that while cooperation with Europol needs to be even further enhanced, it cannot fully substitute the development of the EPPO’s internal analytical platform, which remains vital to a fast interpretation of the data collected during its investigations and the setting of operational strategies in cross-border cases requiring access to the EPPO’s entire CMS; recalls that, in its upcoming evaluation report, the Commission should carefully analyse to which categories of crimes the EPPO’s mandate needs to be extended, in order to take full advantage of its potential; welcomes the EPPO’s call for enhanced cooperation with Union institutions;

90. 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;

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Added91. 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;

92. 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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Changed83.93. 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 EPPOthe EPPO’s request aimingwhich 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 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;

94. 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; 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'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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Changed85.95. Maintains that any lack of cooperation with the EPPO by any of the Member States, whether or not 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;

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Added96. 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;

▸5 unchanged paragraphs

Communication

97. 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;

98. 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;

99. 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'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;

100. 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;

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Added101. 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

102. 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; 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.