On discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office for the financial year 2023

The Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs calls on the Committee on Budgetary Control, as the committee responsible, to incorporate the following into its motion for a resolution:

1. Notes that, compared with 2022, the caseload of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) almost doubled in 2023, reaching up to 1 927 active investigations; commends the fruitful activities of the EPPO in 2023, which included 139 indictments, 339 VAT-related cases and over 200 investigations on the implementation of NextGenerationEU; further notes that the EPPO started to bring more perpetrators of EU fraud to judgment in front of national courts;

2. Commends the close cooperation between the EPPO and the Court of Auditors, particularly in detecting any suspicions of criminal offences falling within its competence and involving participating Member States;3. Welcomes the increase in appropriations for the EPPO’s budget in 2023, amounting to EUR 64,6 million in total, which allowed for an 11 % increase in staff in that year; acknowledges that the acceleration of the disbursement of NextGenerationEU funding the rapid rise in the EPPO’s workload – with cases increasing by 70% and the investigations by 58% from 2022 to 2023 – and the expansion of its membership are projected to further strain its resources; underlines the importance of additional funding and strengthening its staffing to enable the EPPO to effectively combat organized crime, protect the EU’s financial interests, and uphold the rule of law, which are key EU priorities; regrets that the Commission’s proposal for the EPPO’s 2025 budget and the Council’s stance fall short of ensuring sufficient resources for the agency to fulfil its mandate; stresses that the EPPO generates significant financial returns for the EU, demonstrated by the seizure of €1.5 billion in 2023, and calls for a dedicated increase in funding within the next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) 2028-2034 to ensure it can continue to meet its objectives and obligations;

4. Acknowledges the importance of taking a holistic approach to combating white-collar crime, such as fraud and corruption, and more conventional types of crime, such as drug trafficking and human trafficking, as they are often linked; recalls the fact 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 for it to be best equipped to fulfil its role; meanwhile, the EPPO’s existing competence to investigate organised crime and money laundering, when linked to fraud affecting EU financial interests, should be supported through adequate resources and efficient cooperation with Europol, and analyse how EPPO’s operations and investigations can become more efficient and effective, and present a legislative proposal to accompany the evaluation; recalls in the regard the plans of Commissioner McGrath to accelerate the evaluation;

5. Underlines the essential role of asset recovery in the creation of a credible deterrent to organised crime; welcomes the EPPO’s participation in international networks to advance its asset recovery operations further; stresses the need for the Commission to invite the EPPO to participate in the newly created cooperation network on asset recovery and confiscation; notes that the timely and effective investigation and prosecution of fraud-related crimes can generate significant savings for the budget of the Union and for Member States’ budgets;

6. Emphasises the important role of the EPPO in the Union approach to combating corruption and the misuse of Union funds; expresses its satisfaction that 24 Member States participate in the EPPO and calls on the remaining Member States to do so as well or be denied the possibility to manage EU funds indirectly; calls on the Commission to closely monitor Member States’ level of cooperation with the EPPO in subsequent reports and to continue engaging in an active dialogue with non-participating Member States to effectively facilitate the EPPO in carrying out its tasks; emphasises the fact that such a dialogue should be ongoing with the Member States that already participate in the EPPO as regards tackling difficulties in fighting rule of law violations and corruption and support them in the practical implementation of the recommendations in this regard in the annual rule of law reports; reiterates, however, the EP calls that membership of the EPPO should be a precondition for receiving EU funds and the need for an expansion of the mandate of the EPPO; welcomes the participation of Sweden and Poland in the EPPO which was confirmed in January and July 2024 repectively;

7. Welcomes the appointment of 8 new European Prosecutors and 35 new European Delegated Prosecutors to the EPPO in 2023; reiterates that the EPPO can fulfil its role only if it enjoys full judicial independence, which flows from a merit-based and objective appointment procedure; encourages Member States to contribute to the full independence of the EPPO in that regard;

8. Encourages continued and enhanced cooperation between the EPPO and OLAF, in line with their respective regulations, and the obligation of OLAF to report, without undue delay, suspicions of criminal contact to EPPO, in order to enable it 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 to strengthening the protection of EU financial interests and the Union’s fight against financial crime and to ensuring the effective and efficient use of Union resources.