The European Parliament adopted a legislative resolution approving the Council position at first reading with a view to the adoption of a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing the Union anti-fraud programme and repealing Regulation (EU) No 250/2014.
The proposed regulation aims at establishing the Union anti-fraud programme for the duration of the multiannual financial framework (MFF) 2021-2027, replacing the Hercule III programme.
Programme’s objectives
The objectives of the programme are to:
- protect the Union’s financial interests;
- prevent and combat fraud, corruption and any other illegal activity affecting the EU's financial interests;
- encourage the reporting of irregularities, including fraud, in relation to funds under shared management and pre-accession aid funds of the Union budget;
- provide tools for information exchange and support for operational activities in the field of mutual administrative assistance in customs and agricultural matters.
The programme should also support investigative activities through the purchase of technical equipment used to detect and investigate fraud and facilitate access to secure information systems.
Budget
The overall financial envelope for the implementation of the programme for the period 2021-2027 amounts to EUR 181 207 000 in current prices.
A ceiling of 2% is set for technical and administrative assistance expenditure related to the implementation of the programme.
The Regulation provides for an indicative list of actions to be financed, in order to ensure the continuity of the financing of all the actions entrusted to the Commission under Regulation (EC) No 515/97, in particular the AFIS (anti-fraud information system) platform.