OLAF Supervisory Committee's annual report 2014

22.5.2015

Question for oral answer O-000060/2015
to the Commission
Rule 128
Petri Sarvamaa, on behalf of the PPE Group
Bart Staes, on behalf of the Verts/ALE Group

The OLAF Supervisory Committee’s (SC) Annual Activity Report 2014 has raised some serious concerns in Parliament. According to the report, there are problems with the SC’s independence, OLAF’s compliance with the OLAF regulation and the working arrangements between OLAF and the SC. The report leaves doubts about how effectively OLAF protects the Union’s financial interests.

– OLAF opened 423 cases on the same day by a single decision of its Director-General, in contradiction with the legal requirement for opening an OLAF investigation.

– The SC has constantly pointed out its inability to supervise OLAF’s independence, its investigative function, the application of procedural guarantees and the duration of investigations owing to lack of access to necessary information.

– There is a fundamental difference of views in the perception of the role of the SC.

1. How has the Commission reacted to the abovementioned incident of opening of cases?

2. What has the Commission done to ensure that OLAF complies with the legal requirements addressed to it in the OLAF regulation?

3. What is the Commission’s perception of the working arrangements and working relations between OLAF and the SC? How does the Commission intend to facilitate a constructive dialogue between them, so that they can both play their role in protecting the financial interests and optimising the functioning and the efficiency of OLAF?

4. Does the Commission have an action plan to solve these serious deficiencies brought forward in the Supervisory Committee’s Annual Activity Report?