Anti-fraud and risk
Fighting fraud and any other illegal activities affecting the financial interests of the EU is a common task for both the EU and the Member States (Article 325 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU)).
The Commission implements the EU budget, complying with sound financial management principles and applying effective and efficient internal control, which includes preventing, detecting, correcting6 and following up on fraud and other irregularities (TFEU Article 317)
The responsible Commission departments and OLAF will continue to help and support Member States in monitoring and taking action to fight fraud by providing and operating integrated IT tools for data mining and enrichment. Operational tools such as Arachne and Irregularity Management System help to identify potential risks linked to the riskiest projects and contracts.
The objectives are to improve the detection of risk areas of the use of programme and project resources and improve accuracy in the reporting and monitoring of EU funds.
The European Commission's Anti-fraud Strategy focuses on protecting the EU's financial interests from fraud, corruption, and other intentional irregularities and on the risk of serious wrongdoing inside the EU's institutions and bodies.
Where to start
The Managing Authority bears the responsibility of having effective and proportionate anti-fraud measures and procedures in place (CPR, Article 74(1)).
What we are working on
At the Interreg Knowledge Fair, a session will explore the topic of anti-fraud measures and procedures in Interreg. This will be further reviewed in a dedicated event focused on Anti-fraud in late 2024.
A fact sheet on anti-fraud and fraud risk assessment will be updated during the year.
Contact
For more information please contact Florin Neculcea..
Exchange Community
Interact offers an online space for those working with Financial programme management to share information and exchange. If you would like to learn more about this, please contact Przemyslaw Kniaziuk.
If you are already a member of the Community, you can access it here.
Additional resources
A survey was conducted on the use of the Arachne risk scoring tool in cooperation with DG Regio. This survey aimed to understand the use of the system by Interreg programmes, as well as the advantages and disadvantages of using the IT system, and experiences with the European Commission Arachne team.