Protecting EU funds

Each year the EU distributes hundreds of billions worth of funds to Member States and organisations around the world. The main spending categories are: European Structural and Investment funds, agricultural funds, direct expenditure including the Recovery and Resilience Facility (‘RRF’) and external aid. This funding goes towards creating a stronger, cohesive and resilient Europe, improving citizens’ lives and supporting key sectors such as agriculture, education, research & innovation, environment and industry.

OLAF's mandate covers all areas for which it is necessary to ensure that EU money better serves the European Commission's political goals in the interest of all EU citizens. OLAF's mission is to detect, investigate and prevent that this EU expenditure is not subjected to fraud, because unfortunately, where these funds go, fraudsters often follow.

2023 was no exception, during the year OLAF investigated instances of fraud against various strands of EU funding.

This section highlights some of those cases, including an interesting investigation into educational funds under indirect management, a high-profile case related to Agricultural funding , and a case relating construction of an orchestra hall where no music could be played!