The European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) is currently investigating more than 3,600 active cases involving fraud, corruption, and embezzlement of EU funds. The estimated total damage amounts to around 67 billion euros, almost three times as much as in the previous year. The NextGenerationEU fund, with a volume of 800 billion euros, is particularly affected: 68% of the proceedings concern expenditure fraud, including subsidy fraud and fraud involving recovery funds, with estimated losses of around 18.7 billion euros. These include organised fraud schemes, cronyism in the awarding of contracts, and cases in which, for example, contracts were awarded to companies owned by relatives. A considerable number of cases concern the so-called green transformation.
Alexander Jungbluth, Member of the European Parliament (ESN Group, Committee on Budgets), stated:
“The current EPPO investigations confirm our repeated criticism of debt-financed EU funds such as NextGenerationEU. The issue now also involves subsidy fraud, corruption, and the misuse of EU funds in connection with photovoltaic systems, renewable energy, and supposed energy-efficiency programmes. In these cases, the so-called green transformation is proving not to be a project of progress, but a system of subsidy self-enrichment dressed in green. Instead of transparency and efficiency, taxpayers are left facing billions in damages. There must now be full clarification of all cases, tough consequences for those responsible, and significantly stricter control mechanisms for EU funds before further billions disappear.”
