OLAF participates in seminar on fraud prevention in European structural and investment funds

11/12/2015

11 December 2015

During the period 2014-2020, the EU will invest €325 billion in Europe’s regions through the European Structural and Investment (ESI) Funds, which aim to promote economic growth, job creation, competitiveness and reduce development disparities. It is crucial to make sure that this money is spent properly and achieves the greatest possible impact. This is why OLAF is participating in a seminar on anti-corruption and anti-fraud measures in ESI Funds on 11 December in Budapest. The seminar is organised by the European Commission, with the Hungarian Prime Minister's Office and Transparency International Hungary.

The main objective of the seminar is to increase public and political awareness with regard to corruption and fraud and specifically concerning ESI Funds. Legislation for ESI Funds for the period 2014-2020 explicitly require managing authorities to establish risk-based, effective and proportionate fraud prevention measures and this event will offer them some useful tools for doing this. This will empower public administration and ensure better value of ESI Funds in Hungary.

The seminar will bring together EU institutions, Hungarian authorities and civil society organisations, who will share experience and best practice on ‘What can actually be done to prevent fraud and corruption in ESI funds?’ Three parallel workshops planned will  focus on the European Commission's guidelines to assess and manage fraud risks, the presentation of a Commission-designed IT tool that helps identify and monitor projects at risk of fraud, and ways to prevent fraud and corruption in public procurement.

Background

This seminar is one in a series of similar events organised by the European Commission in EU Member States (including Poland, Latvia and Portugal) on fraud prevention in using ESI Funds. One of these was hosted by OLAF in Greece in February 2014.