November 5, 2026

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The European Post

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November 5, 2026

Newsletter

The European Post

Policy • Diplomacy • strategic insight

LATEST
Importers Count Down To EU Deforestation Regulation DateFactories Slow As Euro Area Industrial Production DropsCircular Economy Act Slips A Week As Textile Makers PushDAC Recast Would Fold Nine Tax Cooperation Directives Into OneThird-Country Satellites Face EU Space Act Certification HurdleMexico Signature Gives EU-Mexico Agreement Its First Real TestGulf Partnership Stalls as the EU-GCC Summit Loses Its New DateIndonesia Trade Agreement Targets 2027 Start For Palm Oil And TextilesMercosur Agreement Waits On Court As Farm Fears PersistSouth Korea Summit Adds Defence And Digital Trade PillarsCouncil Receives EU India Trade Deal With €4 Billion SavingsInfringement Procedures Hit Ten Year High In Commission ReviewGreen Claims Directive Withdrawn After Three Years Of StalemateEU Customs Reform Puts Parcel Handling Fee On 1 November ClockEuro Area Inflation Hits 4.0 percent In October As Energy Costs Jump 20.8 percentBaltic Sea Fishing Opportunities Rise For Herring And Sprat In 2027Brussels Convenes Ukraine Reconstruction Talks Before Abu Dhabi RoundBeijing Consensus Points Leave EU China Trade Talks Short On DetailEhler Compromise Reshapes European Competitiveness FundRescuers Gather At European Civil Protection Forum 2026Importers Count Down To EU Deforestation Regulation DateFactories Slow As Euro Area Industrial Production DropsCircular Economy Act Slips A Week As Textile Makers PushDAC Recast Would Fold Nine Tax Cooperation Directives Into OneThird-Country Satellites Face EU Space Act Certification HurdleMexico Signature Gives EU-Mexico Agreement Its First Real TestGulf Partnership Stalls as the EU-GCC Summit Loses Its New DateIndonesia Trade Agreement Targets 2027 Start For Palm Oil And TextilesMercosur Agreement Waits On Court As Farm Fears PersistSouth Korea Summit Adds Defence And Digital Trade PillarsCouncil Receives EU India Trade Deal With €4 Billion SavingsInfringement Procedures Hit Ten Year High In Commission ReviewGreen Claims Directive Withdrawn After Three Years Of StalemateEU Customs Reform Puts Parcel Handling Fee On 1 November ClockEuro Area Inflation Hits 4.0 percent In October As Energy Costs Jump 20.8 percentBaltic Sea Fishing Opportunities Rise For Herring And Sprat In 2027Brussels Convenes Ukraine Reconstruction Talks Before Abu Dhabi RoundBeijing Consensus Points Leave EU China Trade Talks Short On DetailEhler Compromise Reshapes European Competitiveness FundRescuers Gather At European Civil Protection Forum 2026

EU Anti-Fraud Report Finds Fewer Irregularities But Bigger Sums

Gísli Jóhannesson
Legislative Analyst, Anti-Fraud (OLAF)

Sofia: The latest EU anti-fraud report shows fewer irregularities in EU spending but a larger amount of money caught up in them, and the Bulgarian findings published in April add a national twist. The Commission’s 2025 report on protecting the EU budget, known as the PIF report and covered by the press on 4 August 2026, recorded 13,010 irregularities linked to EU funds. They involved €2.1 billion, and 986 of them were classed as fraudulent irregularities worth €274.3 million.

Compared with 2024, the number of reported irregularities fell by 7.6%, while the amounts involved rose by 12.8%. The number of reported fraud cases also declined, although the coverage reviewed gives no figure for that drop. The €2.1 billion is the sum involved in recorded irregularities, not money that was necessarily lost for good, and readers should keep that distinction in mind.

The EU anti-fraud report also looks at what happens after detection. Over the past decade, the Commission and the European Anti-Fraud Office, known as OLAF, prevented more than €658 million from being unduly spent. Where follow-up on OLAF’s financial recommendations is complete, recovery rates stood above 96%. This is the first PIF report to assess the full anti-fraud cycle, from prevention through detection to recovery and prosecution.

The EU anti-fraud report urges member states to use risk analysis and IT tools such as Arachne+ more widely. It wants suspected fraud referred systematically to prosecutors and reported on time, and it calls for stronger coordination between administrative, investigative and judicial authorities. Before the next multiannual financial framework, the Commission plans mandatory national anti-fraud strategies and tougher reporting obligations for member states.

A second EU anti-fraud report, OLAF’s own annual report presented on 20 April 2026, showed how uneven the follow-up can be. Bulgarian authorities brought no charges between 2021 and 2025 on OLAF recommendations, according to the news agency BTA. OLAF carried out 42 checks in Bulgaria over that period, and national authorities discontinued the five cases in which follow-up action was recommended, with one decision still pending.

Across the Union, OLAF issued 145 judicial recommendations over the five years. National authorities took 73 decisions, and 27 of them led to charges. OLAF passes evidence of crime to the European Public Prosecutor’s Office, which is why the gap between recommendations and charges draws attention.

A Commission communication on the EU anti-fraud architecture is expected in 2026 and could lead to legislative proposals on cooperation between OLAF, the prosecutor’s office and national bodies. The next EU anti-fraud report will show whether the stronger tools and reporting rules narrow the distance between detection and conviction, and whether the bigger sums in 2025 were a blip or a trend.

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