Verbatim report of proceedings

Monday, 15 May 2017 - Strasbourg

Annual report 2015 on the protection of EU's financial interests - Fight against fraud (debate)

  Marianne Thyssen, Member of the Commission. – Mr President, this debate shows once more how pivotal the need for an adequate protection of the Union’s financial interests is. It also indicates that continuous improvements and enhancements are necessary to bring the fight against fraud and irregularities in line with the expectations of the European citizens. Please rest assured that the Commission is fully committed to continue to strengthen the protection of the European Union’s financial interests and to reinforce our efforts in this area. To ensure the European budget is delivering its optimal impact and value for money, the Commission and the Member States have the duty to make every effort to prevent public money from being defrauded.

On your question or your statement that the total number of irregularities detected by the Commission and the Member States is rising again and what the reason is for this, I can only tell you that there is no straight answer to this question. Identifying the main reasons behind increases and decreases in the number of irregularities is always, as you know, a complex exercise. Several factors may contribute to this. In relation to 2015, increased spending, changes in control strategies and delayed reporting have played a role. I kindly refer you to certain paragraphs in the PIF report about this.

On fraudulent irregularities, there we see that the number of fraudulent irregularities has been decreasing. I want to tell you here that interpreting the true meaning of the fluctuations in the number of this kind of irregularities reported and in their related financial value is always difficult and could easily be misleading. As observers we tend to associate the positive judgment to decreases and the negative one to increases of detected fraudulent activities. However, we should never forget that we are looking at the Member States’ capacity to prevent and detect fraud. It is the detection efficiency of Member States that counts.

Of course, as many of you said money lost due to fraud is money we could use better, we could invest it in useful projects. But we also should know that reporting of irregularities does not always mean that the budget lost the amounts. Member States and the Commission often recover the amounts. Let us not forget that.

And then, of course, we recognise that there is a conflict of interests. But let me tell you that we also addressed this conflict of interest among other things in the public procurement directive of 2014, where the definition of conflict of interest is introduced, and I can also tell you that the Commission prepared guidelines with Member State experts on conflict of interests.

One Member asked me why the Commission decided to discontinue the anti-corruption report. Well, an effective fight against corruption within the European Union remains essential, delivered through the right vehicle. Fighting corruption has become a key element of the European Semester process. I want to underline that the Commission will take up anti-corruption matters in the context of its main economic policy dialogue between the Member States and the European institutions. This is in line with the general approach of this Commission to streamline processes and focus on key issues in the relevant fora.

There was also a question on whistle-blowers and about the state of play on initiatives of the Commission on the protection of whistle-blowers. There I can tell you that the Commission is assessing the feasibility and the scope for European action to strengthen the protection of whistle-blowers. DG JUST is carrying out an impact assessment, has launched a public consultation in March and is about to launch a targeted consultation. The Commission should decide in July of this year what action to propose before the end of the year, before December.

Despite my efforts I have probably not addressed completely certain specific or certain technical issues in my introduction or in my reply to your questions, but I can tell you that Commissioner Oettinger will meet the rapporteur, Ms Pitera, at the beginning of June in order to continue the discussion on how to improve further the protection of the European Union’s financial interests. Thank you for your attention and I can tell you that the Commission counts on the European Parliament’s continuous support.