Europe borrowed jointly to fund its post-pandemic recovery and, at the same time, gave itself something it had never had: its own prosecutor to pursue those who steal from the common budget. Billions will flow through national administrations. The question is no longer whether there will be fraud, but whether anyone will dare report it, and who will investigate.
Common money, common oversight
In 2021 the European Union took a historic step: borrowing jointly on the markets to finance the recovery fund. A debt issue of that size demanded guarantees that the money would reach its intended destination. In parallel, that same year the European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO) began operating, established by Council Regulation (EU) 2017/1939 through enhanced cooperation among the participating Member States, Spain among them.
It is the Union's first independent prosecution office, responsible for investigating, prosecuting and bringing to trial crimes against the EU's financial interests: fraud in grants and contracts, corruption, money laundering linked to those funds and large-scale cross-border VAT fraud, for which the legislation sets a damage threshold of ten million euros.
EPPO and OLAF: two complementary pieces
Before the EPPO there was already the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF), which continues to receive reports through its online notification system. Their roles should be distinguished:
- OLAF carries out administrative investigations into fraud and serious irregularities harming EU funds, as well as serious misconduct by staff of the European institutions.
- The EPPO has criminal jurisdiction: it directs investigations and prosecutes cases before the national courts of the participating States.
Any citizen may approach either body. Admittedly, finding where to file a report is not always easy, which is why we list the official access points at the end of this article.
When Brussels sees what goes unseen at home
Will there be many reports? Undoubtedly. Experience shows that the European institutions sometimes detect what national ones cannot or will not see. A case close to home: the European Commission concluded that aid granted for digitising and extending the terrestrial television network in remote areas of Spain breached EU State aid rules, and confirmed that Spain had to recover it from certain operators. What was presented here as public policy, Brussels classed as an unlawful advantage for private companies.
This case shows how corruption works across all three branches of power: a legislature that designs the framework, an executive that hands out the money and, all too often, a national judiciary that finds nothing to object to. When internal oversight fails, European oversight becomes the last hope.
The questions that remain unanswered
Our collective memory holds scandals whose figures are still staggering and whose final fate many citizens have never learnt:
- What became of the nearly one billion euros associated with the Andalusian redundancy schemes (the "ERE" case)? Was it recovered?
- And what of the more than twenty billion euros of public money used to rescue a Spanish bank? How much has returned to the public purse?
These are not rhetorical questions. They are the reason why independent European oversight is essential now that recovery funds are arriving. If we failed to learn from the past, at least we now have new tools not to repeat it.
European money is every citizen's money: staying silent while it is diverted means paying for corruption twice.
Now is the time to report
If you know of irregularities in the management of EU funds, such as rigged contracts, tailor-made grants, unjustified cost overruns or disguised aid, do not wait for others to take the first step:
- Gather the available documentation: contracts, decisions, invoices, correspondence.
- File a report with the EPPO if there are signs of a crime, or with OLAF through the administrative route.
- Share your case with associations such as ours so that you are not left on your own.
Europe has put the tool on the table. Using it is up to us. Do you know of any other case? Now is the time to report it.