Introduction

The EPPO’s Annual Report 2023 demonstrates that serious organised crime continues to feast on EU revenue. Organised crime groups consider VAT fraud and fraud relating to EU funds a ‘clean area’ – high in profit, low in risk, and with no obvious victims who would report such crimes. Of the total estimated financial damage corresponding to the EPPO’s active investigations during the reporting period, €11.5 billion (59%) was linked to cross-border VAT fraud. This type of crime is nearly impossible to uncover from a purely national perspective, and often involves sophisticated criminal organisations, who do not shy away from extreme violence when it comes to protecting their interests, and have almost unlimited means of corrupting our democratic institutions. 

‘If we want to seriously affect criminals’ ability to operate, let alone grow and expand their activities, we must take white-collar criminals out of the equation. Our strategy should be to cripple the financial capacity of the serious organised crime groups. We are here to help.’

 – European Chief Prosecutor Laura Kövesi

Operational activity

By 31 December 2023, we had 1 927 active investigations, for estimated damage of over €19.2 billion. With 139  indictments filed (over 50% more than in 2022), the EPPO started to bring more perpetrators of EU fraud to judgment in front of national courts. Ultimately, in line with the EPPO’s objective to focus on damage recovery, judges granted European Delegated Prosecutors freezing orders worth €1.5 billion, which is over four times more than in 2022.

Next Generation EU

By the end of 2023, the EPPO had 206 active investigations related to NextGenerationEU funding, with an estimated damage of over €1.8 billion. This represents approximately 15% of all the cases of expenditure fraud handled by the EPPO during the reporting period, but in terms of estimated damage, it corresponds to almost 25%. This shows that NextGenerationEU funding is a target for fraudsters.

The European Delegated Prosecutors form the front line of the EPPO, working on the decentralised level in 22 different EU Member States. It is their key responsibility to investigate, prosecute and bring to judgment crimes affecting the financial interests of the EU – including taking timely and legally correct decisions, fulfilling the reporting obligation to the Permanent Chambers and cooperating with other European Delegated Prosecutors in cross-border cases. The offices of the European Delegated Prosecutors are located in 42 cities in the 22 Member States. On 31 December 2023, there were 140 European Delegated Prosecutors in active employment. 

The EPPO’s budget is fully financed by the General Budget of the EU in the form of a subsidy. In 2023, €66 million was budgeted for the delivery of the EPPO’s mission, compared to €51.2 million in 2022 (+29%). The main drivers in this budget evolution were a strong dynamic in staff costs, due to progress towards full occupancy of Central Office statutory staff posts and Seconded National Expert posts. A larger number of European Delegated Prosecutors were deployed, compared to 2022, and the consolidation and further developments of the Case Management System (CMS) ecosystem were continued.