The European Commission is preparing its most ambitious anti-corruption drive in a decade, and the European Public Prosecutor’s Office now sits at its centre. Justice Commissioner Michael McGrath has confirmed that the executive will table a dedicated anti-corruption strategy before the end of 2026, alongside a review of the Union’s anti-fraud architecture.

The package rests on three moving parts. Officials will draft the strategy itself, revisit how the EU’s fraud-fighting bodies cooperate, and propose a revision of the regulation that governs the EPPO. McGrath argues that the prosecutor’s office has proved its worth since 2021 but still lacks the reach to match cross-border crime.

An evaluation of the EPPO feeds directly into that thinking. Investigators in Luxembourg have opened hundreds of cases touching VAT fraud, misused subsidies and rigged procurement, yet their mandate stops at the edges of the participating member states. The planned revision would tighten cooperation with Europol, Eurojust and the anti-fraud office OLAF, and could widen the categories of crime the prosecutors pursue.

The Commission has already laid groundwork. Stronger EU-wide anti-corruption rules took effect on 1 June 2026, harmonising definitions of bribery and trading in influence across national codes. In July, officials went further and floated mandatory national anti-fraud strategies, obliging every capital to publish a plan rather than leave the fight to the EU institutions alone.

Public input shaped the design. A call for evidence and an open consultation ran until 6 July 2026, drawing responses from civil society groups, prosecutors and business associations. Their contributions feed a strategy that officials expect to span prevention, integrity standards, whistle-blower protection, asset recovery and international cooperation.

Money frames the urgency. The anti-fraud office recommended recovering close to 600 million euro in misused funds last year, and auditors have repeatedly warned that weak coordination lets too many cases slip. A sharper EPPO, backed by common national strategies, aims to close that gap before the next long-term budget starts spending.

Resistance looks likely. Several governments guard their prosecutors jealously and will scrutinise any transfer of power to Luxembourg. Parliament, by contrast, has pushed for years to hand the EPPO more staff and more scope. The coming months will test whether McGrath can hold that coalition together.

For now the direction is clear. The Commission wants a single, joined-up front against graft, and it wants the prosecutor’s office to lead it. Whether member states agree to surrender the tools to make that happen will decide how much this anti-corruption push actually changes.