COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT Statistical evaluation of irregularities reported for 2024: own resources, agriculture, cohesion and fisheries policies, pre-accession and direct expenditure Accompanying the document REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE COUNCIL AND THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT 36th Annual Report on the protection of the European Union's financial interests and the fight against fraud - 2024
Date: 2025-07-25
Institutions: European Anti-Fraud Office, European Commission
Subjects: EU Member State, EU budget, EU strategy, activity report, corruption, digitisation, fight against crime, financial control, fraud, fraud against the EU

EN 

  EN 

   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 25.7.2025  SWD(2025) 230 final  COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT Statistical evaluation of irregularities reported for 2024: own resources, agriculture, cohesion and fisheries policies, pre-accession and direct expenditure Accompanying the document REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE COUNCIL AND THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT 36th Annual Report on the protection of the European Union's financial interests and the fight against fraud - 2024 {COM(2025) 426 final} - {SWD(2025) 196 final} - {SWD(2025) 197 final} - {SWD(2025) 198 final} - {SWD(2025) 199 final} - {SWD(2025) 228 final} - {SWD(2025) 229 final}  
 
 
CONTENTS 

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ............................................................................................. 3 

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ................................................................................................. 4 

1. 

INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................... 9 

1.1.  Scope of the document ...................................................................................... 9 
1.1.  Structure of the document ................................................................................. 9 

2.  TRADITIONAL OWN RESOURCES (TOR) ......................................................... 10 

Introduction ..................................................................................................... 10 
2.1. 
2.2.  General analysis –trend analysis ..................................................................... 10 
2.2.1.  Reporting years 2020-2024 ............................................................... 10 
2.2.2.  OWNRES data vs TOR collection .................................................... 12 
2.2.3.  Recovery rates ................................................................................... 13 
2.3.  Specific analysis .............................................................................................. 14 
2.3.1.  Customs procedure ............................................................................ 14 
2.3.2.  Method of detection ........................................................................... 14 
2.3.3.  Type of infringement ......................................................................... 16 
2.3.4.  Type of goods, countries of origin .................................................... 17 
2.4.  Member States’ activities ................................................................................ 18 
2.5.  Commission’s monitoring ............................................................................... 18 
2.5.1.  Write-off reports ................................................................................ 18 
2.5.2.  Commission’s inspections ................................................................. 19 

3.  COMMON AGRICULTURAL POLICY ................................................................. 20 

3.1. 
Introduction ..................................................................................................... 20 
3.2.  General trend ................................................................................................... 20 
3.3.  Modus operandi ............................................................................................... 25 
3.4.  Use of risk analysis and information from informants and media .................. 27 
3.5.  Duration of the irregularities ........................................................................... 28 
3.6.  Detection and reporting by Member State ...................................................... 29 
3.7.  Follow-up to suspected fraud .......................................................................... 33 

4.  COHESION AND FISHERIES POLICIES .............................................................. 36 

Introduction ..................................................................................................... 36 
4.1. 
4.2.  General trend ................................................................................................... 36 
4.3.  Comparison programming periods 2007-2013 and 2014-2020 ...................... 41 
4.4.  Specific analysis – irregularities and fraud by type of violation ..................... 43 
4.5.  Risk analysis and spontaneous reporting......................................................... 45 
4.6.  Duration of irregularities ................................................................................. 46 
4.7.  Detection and reporting by Member State ...................................................... 47 
4.8.  Follow-up to suspected fraud .......................................................................... 51 
4.9.  Other internal policies ..................................................................................... 54 

 
 
 
5.  PRE-ACCESSION POLICY..................................................................................... 55 

5.1. 
5.2. 

Introduction ..................................................................................................... 55 
Instruments for Pre-accession Assistance ....................................................... 55 
5.2.1.  Before 2007: pre-accession Assistance (PAA) ................................. 55 
2007-2013: The Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance (IPA I) .... 56 
5.2.2. 
2014 – 2020: The Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance (IPA II) 56 
5.2.3. 
2021  –  2027:  The  Instrument  for  Pre-accession  Assistance  (IPA 
5.2.4. 
III) ...................................................................................................... 57 
5.3.  General trend ................................................................................................... 57 
Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA I, 2007-2013) ........................ 59 
5.4. 
5.4.1.  Recent trends ..................................................................................... 59 
5.4.2.  Trends  since  the  start  of  IPA  I,  by  beneficiary  country  and 

5.5. 

component ......................................................................................... 60 
Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance II (IPA II 2014-2020) ..................... 62 
5.5.1.  Trends ................................................................................................ 62 
5.5.2.  Trends  since  the  start  of  IPA  II,  by  beneficiary  country  and 

component ......................................................................................... 64 

6.  DIRECT MANAGEMENT ....................................................................................... 66 

6.1. 
Introduction ..................................................................................................... 66 
6.2.  General overview ............................................................................................ 66 
6.3.  General 5-year analysis 2020-2024 ................................................................. 67 
6.4.  Specific analysis .............................................................................................. 68 
6.4.1.  Recoveries by budget headings ......................................................... 68 
6.4.2.  Recoveries by legal entity residence ................................................. 69 
6.4.3.  Method of detection ........................................................................... 70 
6.4.4.  Type of irregularity ........................................................................... 71 

COUNTRY FACTSHEETS .............................................................................................. 72 

Belgium - Belgique/België ........................................................................................ 73 
Bulgaria – България ................................................................................................. 74 
Czech Republic - Česká republika ............................................................................ 75 
Denmark – Danmark ................................................................................................. 76 
Germany – Deutschland ............................................................................................ 77 
Estonia – Eesti ........................................................................................................... 78 
Ireland – Éire ............................................................................................................. 79 
Greece – Ελλάδα ....................................................................................................... 80 
Spain – España .......................................................................................................... 81 
France ........................................................................................................................ 82 
Croatia – Hrvatska ..................................................................................................... 83 
Italy – Italia ............................................................................................................... 84 
Cyprus – Κύπρος ....................................................................................................... 85 
Latvia – Latvija ......................................................................................................... 86 
Lithuania – Lietuva ................................................................................................... 87 
Luxembourg .............................................................................................................. 88 

 
 
Hungary - Magyarország ........................................................................................... 89 
Malta 90 
Netherlands - Nederland ............................................................................................ 91 
Austria – Österreich .................................................................................................. 92 
Poland – Polska ......................................................................................................... 93 
Portugal ..................................................................................................................... 94 
Romania – România .................................................................................................. 95 
Slovenia – Slovenija .................................................................................................. 96 
Slovakia – Slovensko ................................................................................................ 97 
Finland – Suomi-Finland ........................................................................................... 98 
Sweden – Sverige ...................................................................................................... 99 

ANNEXES ...................................................................................................................... 100 

 
 
 
 
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS 

AMIF 
CAP 
CARDS 
CBC 
CF 
DA 
EAFRD 
EAGF 
EAGGF 
EFF 
EGF 
EMFF 
ERDF 
ESF 
ESIF 
FAL 
FDR 
FEAD 
FFL 
GUID 
HRD 
IDR 
IMS 
IPA 
IPARD 
ISF 
ISPA 
MM 
PAA 
PHARE 
PP 
RD 
REGD 
SA 
SAPARD 
TAIB 
TIPAA 
TOR 
YEI 

Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund 
Common Agricultural Policy 
Community Assistance for Reconstruction, Development and Stabilisation 
Cross-Border Cooperation 
Cohesion Fund 
Direct payments to farmers 
European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development 
European Agricultural Guarantee Fund 
European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund 
European Fisheries Fund 
European Globalisation Adjustment Fund 
European Maritime and Fisheries Fund 
European Regional Development Fund 
European Social Fund 
European Structural and Investment Funds 
Fraud Amount Level 
Fraud Detection Rate 
Fund for European Aid to the Most Deprived 
Fraud Frequency Level 
European Agricultural Guarantee and Guidance Fund – Section Guidance 
Pre-accession, Human Resources Development component 
Irregularities Detection Rate 
Irregularity Management System 
Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance 
Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance for Rural Development 
Internal Security Fund 
Instrument for Structural Policies for Pre-Accession 
Market Support Measures 
Pre-Accession Assistance 2000-2006 
Pre-accession assistance programme 
Programming period 
Rural Development 
Pre-accession, Regional Development component 
Direct Support to Agriculture 
Special Accession Programme for Agricultural and Rural Development 
Transition Assistance and Institution Building 
Turkey Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance 
Traditional Own Resources 
Youth Employment Initiative 

3 

 
 
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 

Revenue – traditional own resources (TOR) 

In  2024,  the  total  number  of  fraudulent  and  non-fraudulent  irregularities  related  to 
Traditional Own Resources (TOR) (5 000) was 2% higher than the 5-year average (4 904). 
However,  the  total  estimated  and  established  amount  of  TOR  (EUR 489.5 million)  was 
nearly  14%  lower  than  the  5-year  average.  In  2024,  the  average  amount  per  case  was 
EUR 97 903 compared to the 5-year average of EUR 116 254.  

In 2024, 10.7% of all detected irregularities were classified as fraudulent. In the same year, 
the number of fraudulent irregularities  (537)  was 6.6% higher than the 5-year  average 
(504),  while  the  number  of  non-fraudulent  irregularities  (4 463)  was  just  1.4%  higher 
than the 5-year average (4 400). Despite this, the estimated and established amount of TOR 
for  fraudulent  (EUR 84 million)  and  non-fraudulent  (EUR 405 million)  cases  were 
respectively 28% and 11% lower than the relevant 5-year averages.  

In  fraudulent  cases  reported  in  2024,  ‘incorrect  value’  became  the  most  reported  modus 
operandi,  with  279  cases  involving  EUR 15.5 million,  yet  smuggling  and  incorrect  origin 
or country of dispatch continued to involve larger amounts of TOR (with 67 cases totalling 
EUR 31.4 million and 69 cases totalling EUR 18 million, respectively). For non-fraudulent 
cases,  the  most  reported  violation  was  the  ‘incorrect  classification/misdescription’  of 
goods,  leading  both  in  terms  of  number  of  cases  (1 629)  and  TOR  amounts  involved 
(EUR 124 million).  In  2024,  vehicles  (electric  bikes  and  cars)  became  the  most  affected 
goods  in  terms  of  value,  while  textiles  and  footwear  remained  the  most  affected  goods  in 
terms  of  number  of  cases.  Certain  products,  such  as  tobacco  (cigarettes)  or  olive  oil,  saw 
notable  increases  in  2024.  China,  the  United  States  and  Türkiye  ranked  as  the  top  3 
countries of origin of goods affected by irregularities.  

‘Release for free circulation’ remained the most affected customs procedure in 2024 with 
4 054  cases  involving  an  overall  estimated  and  established  amount  of  EUR 349.5 million. 
This accounted for 81% of all cases and 71% of the amounts reported for 2024, regardless 
of  whether  they  were  fraudulent  or  non-fraudulent.  In  2024,  the  registered  TOR  amounts 
increased for fraudulent cases of ‘transit’ and ‘inward processing’. For non-fraudulent cases, 
the  second  most  affected  customs  procedure  in  terms  of  TOR  amounts  was  ‘inward 
processing’, followed by ‘customs warehousing’. 

In 2024, post-release controls (48% of cases and 21% of amounts) together with inspections 
by anti-fraud services (30% of cases and 63% of amounts) played a crucial role in detecting 
fraudulent  cases.  Non-fraudulent  instances  were  primarily  detected  through  post-release 
controls (46% of cases  and amounts), although other methods of detection, such as release 
controls and tax audits were also effective.   

In  2024,  11  Member  States  reported  65  cases  of  smuggled  cigarettes,  with  nearly 
EUR 32 million of estimated amount of TOR involved. Same as in 2023, Lithuania reported 
the  highest  number  of  cases  (19)  and  Belgium  reported  the  highest  amount  of  TOR 
(EUR 25 million).  Compared  to  2023,  9  Member  States  continued  to  report  cases  of 
cigarettes  smuggling  exceeding  EUR 10 000  in  TOR  (Belgium,  Bulgaria,  Estonia,  Greece, 
France,  Croatia,  Lithuania,  Poland,  Romania)  whereas  some  Member  States  have  newly 
appeared in the statistics (Slovenia, Sweden). Meanwhile, certain Member States (e.g., Spain) 
have disappeared from the statistics, suggesting a potential shift in fraudulent activities or 
cigarettes smuggling routes. 

4 

 
 
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 

Expenditure - common agricultural policy 

During  2020-2024,  the  Member  States  reported  1 618  irregularities  as  fraudulent  and 
16 572 irregularities as non-fraudulent.  

During  the  period  2020-2024,  fraudulent  irregularities  reported  for  rural  development 
increased,  due  to  the  rising  number  of  detections  for  the  programming  period 2014-2022. 
However,  the  number  of  these  fraudulent  irregularities  was  lower  than  expected,  when 
compared with reporting during the programming period 2007-2013, even if there are signs 
of the start of a possible reversal of this trend of low reporting. This should be monitored to 
ensure focus  on fraud detection. The fraudulent irregularities under  support to agriculture 
peaked  in  2022  -  when  the  number  was  influenced  by  one  Member  State,  reporting  many 
small inter-linked cases - before decreasing back to the level of 2020 and then rising again in 
2024.  During  2020-2024,  both  the  financial  amounts  involved  in  fraudulent  irregularities 
related  to  rural  development  and  to  support  to  agriculture  have  been  fluctuating  around 
averages that were much lower than the averages related to  the previous  period 2015-2019. 
Several irregularities covered both rural development and direct payments to farmers.  

During the period 2020-2024, EUR 133 million were involved in the irregularities reported 
as  fraudulent.  The  total  EU  funding  granted  to  the  projects  or  operations  affected  by  these 
fraudulent irregularities was about EUR 160 million.  

Detection  rates  for  rural  development  were  much  higher  than  for  support  to  agriculture. 
However, one part of support to agriculture, market measures, accounted for a detection rate 
related to fraud that is similar to rural development and for the highest detection rate related 
to  non-fraudulent  irregularities.  The  detection  of  irregularities,  especially  fraud,  was 
concentrated in a few Member States. 

During  the  period  2020-2024,  fraudulent  irregularities  often  concerned  falsification  of  the 
request  for  aid  or  of  documentary  proof.  For  market  measures  and  rural  development,  
infringements  concerning  the  implementation  of  the  action  were  also  frequently  reported. 
Risks and infringements depend on the type of measure.  

For example, applicants  for  direct payments may request  aid  for plots  of land they do not 
have  the  right  to  use  on  the  basis  of  false  lease  agreements  or  they  may  not  respect  the 
conditions for receiving greening payments. During the period 2020-2024, about 75% of the 
fraudulent  irregularities  related  to  direct  payments  to  farmers  concerned  just  one  type  of 
‘direct aid’ measure, mainly the Single Area Payment Scheme. About 40% of all fraudulent 
irregularities  related  to  direct  payments  concerned  agricultural  practices  beneficial  to  the 
climate  and  the  environment,  both  alone  or  in  combination  with  other  ‘direct  aid’ 
measures.   About  13%  of  all  fraudulent  irregularities  related  to  direct  payments  concerned 
Voluntary  Coupled  Support.  Nearly  10%  of  all  fraudulent  irregularities  concerned 
redistributive  payments  to  small  farmers  or  small  farmer  schemes.  An  example  of  modus 
operandi may be artificial splitting of agricultural holdings to unduly get higher payments. 

Infringements  related  to  market  measures  may  concern,  for  example,  the  withdrawal  of 
agricultural  products  from  the  market,  the  cost,  actual  implementation  or  actual  use  for  the 
intended purpose of investments by producer organisations. During the past 10 years, most of 
the  fraudulent  irregularities  related  to  market  measures  concerned  the  wine-growing  sector, 
the  fruit  and  vegetables  sector  or  promotion.  For  the  wine-growing  sector,  the  funding  for 
investment,  the  promotion  in  third  countries  and  the  restructuring  and  conversion  of 
vineyards  were  the  most  affected  measures.  For  the  fruit  and  vegetables  sector,  the  most 

5 

 
 
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 

affected measure was the aid to producer organisations for preliminary recognition, either as 
aid to investment or as aid to formation and administrative operations or both.  

In  rural  development,  beneficiaries  may,  for  example,  use  false  invoices,  declarations  of 
equipment  as  new  when  it  is  in  fact  second-hand,  manipulated  bids  in  the  context  of 
procurement or false information on compliance with conditions for receiving aid. During the 
period  2020-2024,  the  majority  of  fraudulent  irregularities  in  rural  development  concerned 
reimbursement-based  measures,  in  particular  investments  in  agricultural  holdings.  Another 
significant  share  of  fraudulent  irregularities  in  rural  development  concerned  payments  that 
should  have  been  granted  only  where  certain  conditions  were  satisfied,  in  particular 
agro-enviroment  payments  and  payments  to  farmers  in  areas  facing  natural  or  other 
constraints.  

During the period 2020-2024, risk analysis only marginally contributed to detecting fraud in 
rural  development  and  direct  payments,  while  in  market  measures  it  seems  it  played  a 
stronger  role.  The  share  of  fraud  detections  based  on  tips  from  informants  and 
whistle-blowers  was  low,  with  the  exception  of  market  measures,  where  it  reached 12%. 
However, this figure may be volatile as it is based on very few cases. Just one fraud case (in 
direct payments to farmers) was detected following information published in the media. 

For  10%  of  the  irregularities  reported  during  2014-2024,  there  is  or  has  been  a 
suspicion of fraud (incidence of fraud). In 11% of such cases, this suspicion was not initially 
reported and the Member State reclassified the irregularity as fraudulent at a later stage. For 
17%  of  the  irregularities  with  a  suspicion  of  fraud,  the  suspicion  was  then  confirmed  as 
established  fraud,  while  for 12%  the  suspicion  was  dismissed  and  the  irregularity  was 
classified as non-fraudulent. Most of irregularities where there was a suspicion of fraud are 
still considered suspected fraud, even if several years have elapsed since the initial reporting.  

Significant  differences  between  Member  States  can  be  found  in  the  above-mentioned 
percentages.  In  the  Member  States  with  low  incidence  of  fraud,  the  competent  authorities 
should  invest  in  detecting  signals  of  fraud  and,  when  discovering  irregularities,  should 
carefully address the question of intentionality. Low incidence of fraud could also be due to 
reporting  practices  delaying  classification  as  suspected  fraud.  In  many  Member  States,  the 
percentage of irregularities still classified as suspected fraud is extremely high.  

Expenditure - cohesion and fisheries policies 

Fraudulent  irregularities  related  to  the  programming  period  2007-2013  peaked  in  2015, 
before  gradually  decreasing  in  the  following  years.  In  2018  they  were  overtaken  by  those 
related to the programming period 2014-2020. These dynamics are in line with known trends 
and  patterns  linked  to  the  multiannual  implementation  cycles.  Since  2017,  reporting  of 
non-fraudulent  irregularities  related  to  the  programming  period  2014-2020  has  been 
increasing, but less than expected. The number and financial amounts of the non-fraudulent 
irregularities  reported  from  2014  to  2024  (first  11  years)  for  the  programming  period 
2014-2020 are much lower than those reported from 2007 to 2017 (first 11 years) for the 
programming period 2007-2013. It concerns all funds. A gap has also been emerging for the 
number  of  irregularities  reported  as  fraudulent,  even  if  this  gap  is  much  smaller  and 
decreasing. Reporting related to PP 2021-2027 has just started, but a similar comparison with 
the programming period 2014-2020 points to the possibility of another significant decrease 
in the reporting of non-fraudulent irregularities.      

In  2020-2024,  the  financial  amounts  involved  in  irregularities  reported  as  fraudulent  were 
about EUR 0.9 billion. The total EU funding granted to the projects or operations affected by 

6 

 
 
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 

these  irregularities  was  about  EUR 6.4 billion.  This  means  that  the  irregular  financial 
amounts involved in fraudulent irregularities accounted from about 14% of the value of the 
impacted  operations.  In  general,  a  low  proportion  between  irregular  financial  amounts  and 
public  funding  means  that  there  is  fraud,  but  this  concerns  just  part  of  the  impacted 
operation/project, while the remaining part is legal and regular and funding is confirmed. 

of 

contract 

infringements 

provisions/rules 

With regard to fraud, the most frequent infringements concerned supporting documents. 
Fraudulent 
in 
non-implementation of the funded action. Infringements of public procurement rules were 
the  most  reported  non-fraudulent  irregularities,  but  they  rarely  led  to  a  suspicion  of  fraud. 
Most of the fraudulent infringements concerning ethics and integrity were related to conflict 
of interests. An analysis based on data from 2007 to 2023 suggests insufficient reporting of 
fraudulent irregularities related to corruption. Where reported, corruption mostly concerned 
public procurement, both simplified/restricted and open procedures, including cases with the 
involvement of managers or external experts. This confirms public procurement as an activity 
at  high  risk  of  fraud.  About  20%  of  these  cases  of  corruption  followed  a  control  started 
because of tips from informants or information published in the media. 

consisted 

often 

During  2020-2024,  risk  analysis  still  only marginally  contributed  to  detecting  fraud,  while 
civil  society  (including  tips  from  informants,  whistle-blowers  and  information  published  in 
the media) overall played a larger role. On non-fraudulent irregularities, neither risk analysis 
nor information from civil society played a noticeable role in detection.  Detection based on 
risk analysis could improve through ex post risk analysis projects focusing on groups of past 
transactions,  with  a  view  to  carrying  out  targeted  ex  post  controls.  National  anti-fraud 
strategies  could  consider  the  systematic  involvement  of  bodies  that  are:  (i)  external  to 
management and control system specific to the use of EU funds; and (ii) endowed with the 
necessary powers, information and resources.      

The fraud detection rate for the programming period 2014-2020 is 0.22%, which is lower 
than  the  rate  recorded  for  the  programming  period  2007-2013.  The  irregularity  detection 
rate  is  0.76%,  which  is  much  lower  than  the  rate  recorded  for  the  programming 
period 2007-2013 (2.5%). Detection and reporting vary significantly between Member States. 

For 7% of the irregularities reported during 2014-2024, there is or has been a suspicion 
of fraud (incidence of fraud). For 15% of such irregularities, this suspicion was not initially 
reported and the Member State reclassified the irregularity as fraudulent at a later stage. For 
15%  of  the  irregularities  with  a  suspicion  of  fraud,  the  suspicion  was  then  confirmed  as 
established  fraud,  while  for  17%  the  suspicion  was  dismissed  and  the  irregularity  was 
classified as non-fraudulent. Most of irregularities where there was a suspicion of fraud are 
still considered suspected fraud, even if several years have elapsed since the initial reporting.  

Significant  differences  between  Member  States  can  be  found  in  the  above-mentioned 
percentages.  In  the  Member  States  with  low  incidence  of  fraud,  the  competent  authorities 
should  invest  in  detecting  signals  of  fraud  and,  when  discovering  irregularities,  should 
carefully address the question of intentionality. Low incidence of fraud could also be due to 
reporting  practices  delaying  classification  as  suspected  fraud.  In  many  Member  States,  the 
percentage of irregularities still classified as suspected fraud is extremely high.  

Expenditure - pre-accession 

The irregularities reported by the beneficiary  countries during 2020-2024 mostly  concerned 
IPA I  and  IPA II,  meaning  the  programming  periods  2007-2013  and  2014-2020.  In  about 
52%  of  the  non-fraudulent  irregularities,  less  than  EUR 10 000  were  involved,  but  this 

7 

 
 
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 

percentage  was  much  lower  for  fraudulent  irregularities  (about  16%). About  7%  of  the 
irregularities reported during 2020-2024 were fraudulent (fraud frequency level). 

Concerning  IPA I,  during  2020-2024,  the  beneficiary  countries  reported  just  128 
irregularities, with a fraud frequency level of about 9%, as the programmes were closed years 
ago. As from 2007, the start of IPA I, the beneficiary countries reported 901 irregularities. 
For 37% of these irregularities, the financial amounts involved were below EUR 10 000. As 
from 2007, the highest number of irregularities concerned agriculture and rural development, 
about  87%  of  them  detected  by  Türkiye.  Only  two  other  countries,  Croatia  and 
North Macedonia, reported such cases. A broader range of countries reported irregularities in 
cross-border  cooperation,  the  second  most  affected  component  of  IPA I,  with  Bulgaria 
reporting the majority of them. Türkiye reported 80% of the irregularities in human resources 
development and 62% of the irregularities  in institution-building,  respectively  the third and 
fourth most affected components of IPA I.  

Concerning IPA II, during 2020-2024, the beneficiary countries reported 966 irregularities. 
The  fraud  frequency  level  was  6.5%,  lower  than  for  IPA I. The  number  of  irregularities 
increased markedly since 2022, also because of the high number of irregularities where less 
than EUR 10 000 were involved. As from 2014, the start of IPA II, the beneficiary countries 
reported 1 063 irregularities. For 55% of these irregularities, the financial amounts involved 
were  below  EUR 10 000.  As  from  2014,  the  highest  number  of  irregularities  concerned 
agriculture  and  rural  development,  mostly  reported  by  Türkiye,  North  Macedonia  and 
Albania.  Only  two  other  countries,  Montenegro  and  Serbia,  reported  such  cases.  A  broader 
range of countries reported irregularities concerning regional and territorial cooperation, the 
second most affected policy area, with Serbia and Bulgaria reporting most of them. The third 
highest  number  of  irregularities  concerned  institution-  and  capacity-building  and  reporting 
was  mostly  from  Albania.  The  fourth  highest  number  of  irregularities  concerned 
‘socio-economic and regional development’ and reporting was mostly from Türkiye.    

Expenditure - direct management 

In 2024, a total of EUR 106 068 million was disbursed in ‘direct management’ mode. Around 
53% of these payments was spent on the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF). Spending 
(excluding  the  RRF)  was  higher  than  in  the  previous  year.  The  following  findings  do  not 
concern the RRF. 

During 2024, the Commission registered 1 040 recovery items classified as irregularities, 
for  a  total  value  of  EUR 135.39 million.  63  of  them  were  reported  as  fraudulent 
irregularities, totalling EUR 62.44 million. 

In the period  2020-2024, the ratio  of financial amounts involved in fraudulent irregularities 
and  total  expenditure  under  direct  management  was  0.05%.  This  ratio  peaked  in  2024  at 
0.12%. In 2020-2024, the ratio for non-fraudulent irregularities was around 0.15%. 

In  2024,  the  budget  heading  ‘Single  market,  innovation  and  digital’  accounted  for  the 
highest number (and financial amounts) of non-fraudulent irregularities.  

In the period 2020-2024, about 75% of non-fraudulent and 73% of fraudulent of irregularities 
(76% and 88% of financial amounts) concerned legal entities resident in the EU-27. 

During  the  period  2020-2024,  around  96%  of  non-fraudulent  irregularities  were  detected 
through  Commission  controls,  while  OLAF  detected  about  90%  of  the  fraudulent 
irregularities (97% of the financial amounts). ‘Amount ineligible’ was the most frequent 
type of infringement, for both fraudulent and non-fraudulent irregularities. 

8 

 
 
INTRODUCTION  

1. 

INTRODUCTION 

1.1. Scope of the document 

This document1 presents a statistical evaluation of the irregularities and fraud detected by the 
Member States during 2024, in the context of past years and relevant programming periods 
(PP).  It  covers  both  the  revenue  and  expenditure  sides  of  the  EU  budget.  This  analysis  is 
based  on  the  notifications  provided  by  national  authorities  of  cases  of  irregularities  and 
suspected or established fraud. Their reporting is performed in fulfilment of a legal obligation 
enshrined  in  sectoral  European  legislation.  The  document  accompanies  the  Annual  Report 
adopted  on  the  basis  of  Article 325(5)  of  the  Treaty  on  the  Functioning  of  the  European 
Union  (TFEU),  according  to  which  “The  Commission,  in  cooperation  with  Member  States, 
shall  each  year  submit  to  the  European  Parliament  and  to  the  Council  a  report  on  the 
measures  taken  for  the  implementation  of  this  article”.  Therefore,  this  document  should  be 
regarded as an analysis of the achievements of the Member States, in terms of detection and 
reporting. 

The methodology (including the definition of terms and indicators), the data sources and the 
data  capture  systems  are  explained  in  detail  in  the  Commission  Staff  Working  Document  – 
Methodology for the Statistical Evaluation of Irregularities accompanying the Annual Report 
on the Protection of the EU financial interests (the ‘PIF report’) for the year 20152. 

1.1. 

Structure of the document 

The  present  document  is  divided  in  five  parts.  The  first  part  includes  an  analysis  of  the 
irregularities reported in the area of traditional own resources (revenue). The four subsequent 
parts of the document are dedicated to irregularities reported in the area of expenditure (i) for 
the common agricultural policy; (ii) for cohesion policy, fisheries and other internal policies; 
(iii) for pre-accession policy and (iv) under direct management. 

The  document  is  completed  by  27  country  factsheets,  which,  for  each  Member  State,  
summarise the main indicators and information on the detection of irregularities and fraud. 

Several  annexes  complement  the  information  and  data,  providing  a  global  overview  of  the 
irregularities reported according to the relevant sectoral regulations. Annexes 1 to 12 concern 
traditional  own  resources.  Annex  13  cover  all  the  expenditure  sectors  for  which  Member 
States and beneficiary countries have a reporting obligation. 

1 This document does not represent an official position of the Commission. 
2 SWD(2016)237final 
https://anti-fraud.ec.europa.eu/about-us/reports/annual-reports-protection-eus-financial-interests-pif-report_en 

9 

 
 
 
 
TRADITIONAL OWN RESOURCES 

2.  TRADITIONAL OWN RESOURCES (TOR) 

2.1. 

Introduction 

Section  2  presents  a  statistical  evaluation  of  irregularities  and  fraud  detected  by  the  Member 
States  in  2024  related  to  revenue  under  the  Traditional  Own  Resources  (TOR).  It  places  these 
detections  in  the  context  of  past  years.  The  statistics  are  based  on  the  total  estimated  and 
established  TOR  amounts  as  reported  in  the  OWNRES  application3.  Figures  on  recovery  are 
based  solely  on  established  amounts.  For  the  sake  of  comparability  with  previous  years,  the 
analysis uses data for the European Union  comprising  27 Member States  (EU-27). The United 
Kingdom’s figures can nevertheless be found in the annexes. 

2.2.  General analysis –trend analysis 

2.2.1.  Reporting years 2020-2024 

In 2024, the  number of cases reported  through  OWNRES  (5 000)  was  about  2% higher  than 
the  average  number  of  cases  reported  from  2020  to  2024  (4 904).  However,  the  estimated  and 
established  amount  of  TOR  involved  (EUR 489.5 million)  was  about  14%  lower  than  the 
average  estimated  and  established  amount  for  the  2020-2024  period  (EUR 570 million).4 
Graph TOR1  illustrates  that  the  number  of  cases  (both  fraudulent  and  non-fraudulent)  rose 
steadily  until  2023,  before  decreasing  in  2024.  A  similar  pattern  was  evident  for  the  amounts, 
which  began  to  decrease  in  2023.  The  difference  between  the  figures  for  2023  and  2024  is 
minimal. 

Graph TOR1: Total number of OWNRES cases and the related estimated and established amount (2020-2024) 

s
e
s
a
c

f
o
r
e
b
m
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N

6.000

5.000

4.000

3.000

2.000

1.000

0

R
U
E

n
o

i
l
l
i

m
n

i

s
t
n
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o
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A

900

800

700

600

500

400

300

200

100

0

2020

2021

2022

2023

2024

  Estimated and established amount

   Number of cases

3  The  OWNRES  application  enables  the  Member  States  to report  cases  of  fraud  or  irregularity  involving  TOR  of 
more than EUR 10 000, as required by Article 5(1) of Regulation No 2021/768 laying down implementing measures 
for the system of own resources. This analysis is based on the data extracted as of the cut-off date, 15 March 2025. 
For conversion from national currencies to EUR, the InforEuro exchange rate effective on 15 March 2025 was used. 
4 See Annex 1. 

10 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
TRADITIONAL OWN RESOURCES 

The decline can be attributed to the fact that the 2022 figures were significantly influenced by 5 
major  non-fraudulent 
than 
EUR 371 million). The figures for 2024 have been affected by 3 major cases. Belgium reported 
one case of fraud  involving  nearly  EUR 24 million  and Spain  reported  2 cases of irregularities 
totalling close to EUR 25 million.  

reported  by  Belgium 

(involving  more 

irregularities5 

In  2024,  the  average  amount  per  case  was  EUR 97 903  compared  to  the  5-year  average  of 
EUR 116 254. Germany reported by far the highest number of cases and amounts (2 196 cases, 
about  EUR 128 million).  The  Netherlands,  which  came  second,  reported  541  cases  and 
EUR 75 million.  

2.2.1.1.Irregularities reported as fraudulent 

In 2024, the number of cases reported as fraudulent (537) went up and was 6.6% higher than 
the  average  number  of  cases  reported  as  fraudulent  during  the  5-year  period  2020-2024  (504). 
However, the  estimated  and established  amount  of TOR  decreased  to  EUR 84 million and  in 
2024 was nearly 28% lower than the 2020-2024 average (EUR 117 million)6. 

Graph TOR2: OWNRES cases reported as fraudulent and related estimated and established amount (2020-2024) 

s
e
s
a
c

f
o
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N

6.000

5.000

4.000

3.000

2.000

1.000

0

R
U
E

n
o

i
l
l
i

m
n

i

s
t
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o
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A

600

500

400

300

200

100

0

2020

2021

2022

2023

2024

  Estimated and established amount

   Number of cases

The  average  amount  per  fraudulent  case  therefore  dropped  to  EUR 156 913  compared  to  the 
5-year average of EUR 231 599. Overall, the proportion of fraudulent cases has been relatively 
low. In 2024, only about 11% of all detected cases were classified as fraudulent, accounting 
for 17% of the total TOR involved. 

In 2024, 7 Member States did not report any fraudulent case exceeding EUR 10 000, namely the 
Czech Republic, Ireland, Latvia, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, and Portugal. Moreover, 
Luxembourg and Malta did not report fraudulent cases during the past 5 years. 

5 Cases with an amount of TOR exceeding EUR 10 million.  
6 See Annex 2. 

11 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
TRADITIONAL OWN RESOURCES 

2.2.1.2. Irregularities not reported as fraudulent 

In  2024,  nearly  89%  of  cases  (4 463)  were  not  classified  as  fraudulent,  marking  a  slight 
increase of 1.4% compared to the average number of non-fraudulent cases reported for the 2020 
to 2024 period (4 400). The estimated and established amount of TOR also remained relatively 
stable at EUR 405 million, less than 11% lower than the 5-year average (EUR 453 million).7  

Graph TOR3: OWNRES cases reported as non-fraudulent and related estimated and established amount (2020-2024) 

s
e
s
a
c

f
o
r
e
b
m
u
N

6.000

5.000

4.000

3.000

2.000

1.000

0

R
U
E

n
o

i
l
l
i

m
n

i

s
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o
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A

800

700

600

500

400

300

200

100

0

2020

2021

2022

2023

2024

  Estimated and established amount

   Number of cases

Estonia  did  not  report  any  non-fraudulent  irregularities  exceeding  EUR 10 000  in  2024.  The 
average amount per  non-fraudulent  case in  2024 was  EUR 90 803 which is  significantly lower 
than  for  fraudulent  cases.  The  5-year  average  for  2020-2024  stands  at  EUR 103 046  per 
non-fraudulent case. 

2.2.2.  OWNRES data vs TOR collection  

Based  on  OWNRES  data,  Member  States  have  established  or  estimated  approximately 
EUR 489.5 million  related  to  reported  fraudulent  or  non-fraudulent  irregularities  where  the 
amount  exceeds  EUR 10 000.  In  2024,  the  total  established  amount  of  TOR  was  about 
EUR 27.2 billion  (gross)  and  more  than  98%  was  duly  recovered  and  made  available  to  the 
Commission via the A-account.8  

OWNRES cases accounted for 1.83% of the total collected TOR (gross) amount in 2024. This 
detection  rate  marks  an  increase  from  2023,  when  it  was  1.69%.9  A  detection  rate  of  1.83% 
means  that  out  of  every  EUR 100  of  TOR  (gross)  established  and  collected,  EUR 1.83  is 
registered in OWNRES as irregular (fraudulent or non-fraudulent). 

The  percentage  varies  across  Member  States,  with  countries  like  Bulgaria,  Germany,  Estonia, 
Ireland,  Spain,  the  Netherlands,  and  Sweden  reporting  above-average  rates.  There  is  also  a 

7 See Annex 3. 
8 These are provisional figures for EU-27 available as of 15 March 2025 and might be changed in the final financial 
accounts. In the period 2021-2027, Member States retain 25% of the collected customs duties. This not only covers 
collection costs but also serves as an incentive to ensure a diligent collection of the amounts due. 
9 On the cut-off date for the 2023 PIF report, i.e., 15 March 2024. 

12 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
TRADITIONAL OWN RESOURCES 

difference  in  the  financial  impact  of  fraudulent  cases  and  non-fraudulent  cases;  the  average 
detection  rate  for  fraudulent  cases  is  considerably  lower  at  0.31%,  compared  to  1.51%  for 
non-fraudulent cases.10    

2.2.3.  Recovery rates 

The  fraud  and  irregularity  cases  detected  in  2024  account  for  an  established  amount  of 
EUR 440.8 million,  of  which  almost  EUR 351 million  have  been  made  available  by  the  27 
Member  States,  resulting  in  a  recovery  rate  of  80%.11  This  is  a  very  positive  outcome.  
Recovery is typically lengthy and evolves over time. For an accurate comparison between 2024 
and 2023, the recovery rate of 80% for the year 2024 should be compared to the recovery rate of 
77% for the year 2023 as reported in past year’s Statistical Evaluation12. 

As of 15 March 2025, the updated recovery rate for all cases reported in 2023 has risen to 83%, 
reflecting an annual increase of 6 percentage points. For cases from 2022, the recovery rate has 
reached  91%.  The  recovery  rate  for  2024  is  also  expected  to  increase  over  time.  Graph TOR4 
shows that the annual recovery rate has fluctuated between 64% and 91% over the past 5 years.  

Graph TOR4: Annual recovery rate (2020-2024) 

100%

80%

60%

40%

20%

0%

2020

2021

2022

2023

2024

The  recovery  rate  for  2024  varies  across  the  Member  States.  In  absolute  terms,  Germany 
continued  to  recover  the  highest  amount  (EUR 111 million).  Five  Member  States  (Latvia, 
Luxembourg, Malta, Portugal and Slovenia) recovered 100%, i.e., the entire established amount 
has  already  been  recovered  for  the  EU  budget.  In  6  other  Member  States,  the  recovery  rate  is 
equal or above 90% (Czech Republic 98%, Denmark 91%, Croatia 99%, Poland 97%, Romania 
90%, Sweden 96%).  

Trends  in  fraudulent  and  non-fraudulent  irregularities  diverged  in  2024.  For  non-fraudulent 
cases,  the  results  were  very  similar  to  2023,  with  EUR 332 million  recovered  out  of 
EUR 393 million established, resulting in a recovery rate of 85%. For fraudulent cases, both the 
recovered amount (almost EUR 19 million out of EUR 48 million established) and the recovery 
rate of 39% show a significant increase compared to the previous year.13    

Member  States  continue  to  be  successful  in  recovering  non-fraudulent  amounts,  which  is  a 
consistent  trend.  OWNRES  data  confirms  that  the  recovery  rate  for  fraudulent  cases  is  overall 

10 See Annex 4. 
11  The  recovery  rate  includes  both  amounts  recovered  from  the  economic  operators  and  amounts  funded  by  the 
Member States. 
12 Section 2.2.3 of ‘Statistical evaluation of irregularities reported for 2023’, SWD(2024) 193 final 
13 See Annex 10. The estimated amounts are excluded. 

13 

 
 
 
TRADITIONAL OWN RESOURCES 

much  lower  than  for  non-fraudulent  cases,  as  shown  in  Table TOR1.  The  historical  recovery 
rate  (HRR)  stands  at  84%.  The  historical  recovery  rate  accounts  for  the  recovery  results  of 
both  complex  and  easy cases.  Only  closed  cases  are  taken  into  account.  Therefore,  cases  from 
2022 onwards are excluded because these are predominantly easy cases (complex cases typically 
cannot be closed within 3 years). 

Table TOR1: Historical recovery rate (HRR) 

2.3. 

Specific analysis 

2.3.1.  Customs procedure 

The statistical  evaluation  covers the following customs procedures:  release for free circulation, 
transit,  customs  warehousing,  inward  processing  and  other.14  Customs  procedure  ‘release  for 
free  circulation’  is  by  far  the  most  affected  by  irregularities  with  4 054  cases  totalling 
EUR 349.5 million.  In  2024,  this  represents  81%  of  all  reported  cases  (71%  of  the  amounts), 
regardless of whether they are fraudulent or non-fraudulent. 

For  fraudulent  cases,  ‘release  for  free  circulation’  covers  58.5%  of  the  estimated  and 
established amount registered in OWNRES for all customs procedures. Compared to 2023, the 
number  of  ‘release  for  free  circulation’  cases  increased  from  218  to  462,  while  fraudulent 
‘transit’  cases  decreased  from  30  to  17.  However,  the  registered  TOR  amounts  for  ‘transit’ 
significantly went up (from EUR 1.8 million to EUR 25 million) due to reporting in Belgium. A 
similar trend can be observed for ‘inward processing’, which increased from EUR 0.3 million to 
EUR 2 million.   

For  non-fraudulent  cases,  74%  of  the  estimated  and  established  amount  for  all  customs 
procedures is linked to ‘release for free circulation’ (EUR 300 million). Compared to 2023, both 
the  number  of  cases  and  amounts  under  ‘release  for  free  circulation’  decreased  in  2024.  In 
monetary terms, the second most affected customs  procedure in  2024 was  ‘inward processing’ 
(almost EUR 50 million) - which increased also in terms of number of cases (from 122 to 151) - 
followed by ‘customs warehousing’  (EUR 45 million  with  an even larger increase from  207 to 
462 cases due to reporting in Germany). For ‘transit’, the estimated and established amount of 
TOR  decreased  (from  EUR 11 million  to  about  EUR 2.5 million)  as  well  as  the  number  of 
reported cases (from 388 to 189). 

2.3.2.   Method of detection 

In 2024, there has been a shift in the methods of detecting fraud.15 As shown in Graph TOR5, the 
majority of fraudulent cases were discovered through post-release controls (48%; 257 cases) 
instead of inspections by anti-fraud services, which became the second most successful method 

14 See Annex 6 and 7. 
15 See Annex 8 and 9.  

14 

Irregularities HRR 1989-2021 Reported as fraudulent 69.85 % Reported as non-fraudulent 89.78 % Total 84.28 %   
 
 
TRADITIONAL OWN RESOURCES 

of detecting fraud (30%; 159 cases). Customs controls carried out at the time of release of the 
goods came third with 20% (108 cases).  

Graph TOR5: Method of detection 2024 – Cases reported as fraudulent (by number of cases) 

0% 1%

1%

20%

30%

Release controls

Post-release controls

Inspections by anti-fraud services

Tax audit

48%

Voluntary admission

Other

In  monetary  terms,  these  three  detection  methods  collectively  accounted  for  about 
EUR 80.5 million,  representing  96%  of  the  estimated  and  established  amount  of  TOR  in 
fraudulent  cases.  When  compared  to  2023,  the  share  of  amounts  per  method  remained  nearly 
unchanged  in  2024.  Inspections  by  anti-fraud  services  came  first  with  63%,  followed  by 
post-release controls (21%) and release controls (12%) (Graph TOR6). The remaining methods 
of detection have only a marginal impact.  

Graph TOR6: Method of detection 2024 – Cases reported as fraudulent (by estimated and established amount) 

0% 3%

1%

12%

Release controls

Post-release controls

21%

Inspections by anti-fraud services

63%

Tax audit

Voluntary admission

Other

In  2024,  the  majority  of  non-fraudulent  cases  were  detected  during  post-release  controls 
(46%; 2 061 cases). Other frequent methods of detection were release controls (18%; 812 cases) 
and tax audits (17%; 754 cases) (see Graph TOR7). Compared to 2023, these figures remained 
rather stable. 

15 

 
 
 
TRADITIONAL OWN RESOURCES 

Graph TOR7: Method of detection 2024 – Cases not reported as fraudulent (by number of cases) 

3%

11%

18%

17%

5%

46%

Release controls

Post-release controls

Inspections by anti-fraud services

Tax audit

Voluntary admission

Other

Concerning the estimated and established amount of TOR in non-fraudulent cases, in 2024, the 
most  effective  detection  methods  were  post-release  controls  (46%)  and  tax  audits  (17%) 
accounting  for  EUR 256 million  (see  Graph TOR8).  However,  tax  audits  experienced  a 
significant decrease compared to 2023, dropping from EUR 118.5 million to EUR 69 million. 

Graph TOR8: Method of detection 2024 – Cases not reported as fraudulent (by estimated and established amounts) 

4%

12%

12%

Release controls

Post-release controls

Inspections by anti-fraud services

17%

8%

46%

Tax audit

Voluntary admission

Other

2.3.3.  Type of infringement 

For  fraudulent  cases,  the  most  common  type  of  fraud  became  ‘incorrect  value’,  surpassing 
‘smuggling – seized and confiscated goods’. In 2024, the Member States reported 279 such cases 
for more than EUR 15.5 million. Nevertheless, smuggling was still the third most frequent type 
of  fraud  and  had  the  highest  amount  of  TOR  involved  (67  cases  with  EUR 31.4 million).  The 
second  most  common  type  of  fraud  was  ‘incorrect  origin  or  country  of  dispatching’  with  69 
cases, accounting for EUR 18 million.  

For  non-fraudulent  cases,  the  predominant  types  of  violation  continued  to  be  ‘incorrect 
classification/misdescription’  with  1 629  cases  totalling  EUR 124 million  and  ‘incorrect  value’ 
with  1 349  cases  totalling  EUR 92 million.  Together  they  represented  nearly  67%  of 
non-fraudulent cases and 53% of the total non-fraudulent amount of TOR.  

16 

 
 
 
TRADITIONAL OWN RESOURCES 

Considering all cases combined, ‘Incorrect classification/misdescription’ recorded the highest 
financial amounts involved (EUR 129 million for 1 663 cases). The analysis suggests that 61% 
of  the  number  of  ‘incorrect  value’  cases  (accounting  for  EUR 53 million)  related  to  goods  of 
Chinese origin (see below). 

2.3.4.  Type of goods, countries of origin 

In 2024,  vehicles  (electric bikes and  cars) became  the most affected goods, in  terms  of value 
involved.  Textiles  and  footwear  (such  as  sports  shoes)  continued  to  be  the  most  affected  in 
terms  of  the  number  of  cases.  Certain  products,  such  as  tobacco  (cigarettes)  or  olive  oil, 
witnessed  a  sharp  increase  in  2024.  Electrical  machinery  and  equipment  (for  example  electric 
accumulators), aluminium and articles of iron or steel also remained at the top of the statistics.    

China  and  the  United  States  were  the  most  frequently  reported  countries  of  origin  of  goods 
affected  by  irregularities.  They  were  also  associated  with  the  highest  volume  of  TOR.  Cases 
involving Vietnam saw a significant decline in comparison with 2023. On the other hand, cases 
reported with declared origin in Türkiye increased substantially from 2023 to 2024, rising from 
96 to 215 cases and from nearly EUR 10 million to EUR 31 million in terms of amount of TOR 
involved. Similar to 2023, the United Kingdom continued to rank highly in the 2024 statistics. 

2.3.4.1.Smuggled cigarettes 

In 2024, the Member States reported in OWNRES 65 cases of smuggled cigarettes16. Only cases 
with reported type of fraud smuggling were taken into account. The estimated amount of TOR 
involved  was  around  EUR 31.8 million  (with  an  average  amount  per  case  close  to 
EUR 0.5 million).  Over  2020-2024,  the  Member  States  reported  571  cases,  accounting  for 
EUR 144 million. Throughout this period, Lithuania reported the highest number of cases (158) 
and Belgium reported the highest amounts (EUR 68 million). 

In  2024,  the  highest  number  of  cases  was  reported  by  Lithuania  (19)  and  France  (12).  The 
highest  amount was  reported by  Belgium (EUR 25 million, which accounts for almost  79% of 
the total TOR amount). Estonia reported the second highest amount (EUR 3.2 million) followed 
by  Lithuania  (EUR 1.5 million).  Sixteen  Member  States  did  not  report  any  case  of  cigarettes 
smuggling.17  

16 CN code 2402 2090. See Annex 12.  
17  Czech  Republic,  Denmark,  Germany,  Ireland,  Spain,  Italy,  Cyprus,  Latvia,  Luxembourg,  Hungary,  Malta,  the 
Netherlands, Austria, Portugal, Slovakia, Finland. 

17 

 
 
TRADITIONAL OWN RESOURCES 

Table TOR2: Cases of smuggled cigarettes in 2024 

Compared  to  2023,  9  Member  States  continued  to  report  smuggling  cases  in  2024  (Belgium, 
Bulgaria, Estonia, Greece, France, Croatia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania) whereas some Member 
States  have  newly  appeared  in  the  statistics  (Slovenia,  Sweden).  Meanwhile,  certain  Member 
States have disappeared from the statistics, suggesting a potential shift in fraudulent activities 
or cigarettes smuggling routes. For example, Spain reported 72 cases between 2020 and 2023 
but none in 2024.  

2.4.  Member States’ activities 

In 2024, the Member States reported 537 cases as fraudulent and 4 463 cases as non-fraudulent. 
This  indicates  a  Fraud  Frequency  Level  (FFL)  of  10.7%.  Most  Member  States  continued  to 
follow  the  general  trend  where  most  cases  involve  non-fraudulent  irregularities.  However, 
certain  Member  States  reported  more  than  50%  of  their  cases  as  fraudulent  (Bulgaria  95%, 
Estonia  100%,  Greece  89%,  Cyprus  60%  and  Lithuania  50%).  On  the  other  hand,  7  Member 
States  reported  only  non-fraudulent  irregularities  and  zero  cases  of  fraud  (Czech  Republic, 
Ireland, Latvia, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, and Portugal).  

The  notable  differences  in  how  Member  States  qualify  cases  as  fraudulent  or  non-fraudulent 
may  be  partly  due  to  their  classification  practices,  which  can  impact  comparisons  of  the 
amounts  involved in  reported cases. Furthermore, individual  larger  cases  detected in  a specific 
year may affect annual rates significantly. Factors such as the type of traffic, type of trade, the 
level of compliance of the economic operators, the location of a Member State can influence the 
rates  significantly.  Additionally,  the  manner  in  which  a  Member  State's  customs  control 
strategy is designed to target high-risk imports and detect TOR-related fraud and irregularities 
can also impact the incidence rates. 

2.5. 

 Commission’s monitoring  

2.5.1.  Write-off reports 

Under  Article  13(3)  of  Council  Regulation  No 609/2014,  the  Member  States  are  obliged  to 
inform  the  Commission  about  cases  where  amounts  of  traditional  own  resources  exceeding 

18 

MS Cases Estimated and established amount N EUR BE 5 25,097,684 BG 7 229,395 EE 8 3,167,555 EL 2 260,881 FR 12 946,512 HR 2 30,160 LT 19 1,505,074 PL 7 367,977 RO 1 26,992 SI 1 73,204 SE 1 100,547  EU-27  65 31,805,981   
 
TRADITIONAL OWN RESOURCES 

EUR 100 000 have been written-off from the separate account (and thus  not made available to 
the EU budget) because they were declared or deemed irrecoverable. 

In 2024,  15 Member States submitted  to  the Commission  services for  assessment 83 write-off 
reports totalling EUR 189.7 million.18 For 17 new write-off reports, the Commission concluded 
that  the  Member  States  satisfactorily  demonstrated  that  TOR  was  lost  for  reasons  not 
imputable 
to  almost 
EUR 148 million, the Commission considered that this was not the case and the Member States 
were financially responsible for the loss. Therefore, the examination of write-off cases remains 
a  very  effective  mechanism  that  encourages  national  administrations’  activity  in  the  field  of 
recovery.    

the  Member  States.  However, 

in  44  cases,  amounting 

to 

2.5.2.  Commission’s inspections 

The  Commission  services19  scrutinise  the  way  in  which  the  Member  States  discharge  their 
responsibility  for  collecting  TOR.  The  inspections  carried  out  for  this  purpose  are  based  on 
Council  Regulation  2021/768  and  have  these  main  objectives:  (i)  to  protect  the  financial 
interests of the EU and ensure that the burden of financing the EU expenditure is fairly shared 
among  the  Member  States,  (ii)  to  maintain  a  level  playing  field  for  economic  operators,  and 
(iii) to keep the budgetary authority and the European Court of Auditors properly informed.  

The  TOR  inspections  are  carried  out  either  as  regular  inspections  on  the  spot  in  the  Member 
States (or remotely if necessary) or as desk audits. In 2024, the Commission focused its regular 
on-the-spot  inspections  in  the  Member  States  on  (i)  the  control  strategy  for  trade  defence 
measures,  (ii)  the  reliability  of  the  normal  and  separate  account  statements,  and  (iii)  the 
separate  account  cases  and  the  corrections  of  the  normal  account  (as  a  second  topic  in  all 
inspected Member States). Furthermore, the Commission also continued its close monitoring of 
Member  States’  actions  and  followed  up  on  previously  initiated  desk  audits  and  observations 
made during its inspections. 

As regards the errors detected and findings made (systematic and one-off), DG Budget is taking 
appropriate action on the financial aspect, asking for unpaid amounts to be made available and 
for  interest  to  be  paid,  where  appropriate.  Shortcomings  with  potential  legislative  implications 
are forwarded to DG TAXUD, for further assessment. 

Where  systematic  shortcomings  have  been  identified,  the  national  authorities  have  been 
requested  to  take  appropriate  action  to  strengthen  their  national  systems.  One  general 
conclusion  drawn  by  the  Commission  from  its  inspections  in  Member  States  in  recent  years 
remains  that  a  timely  and  proactive  approach  in  assessing  and  monitoring  risks  is 
indispensable for an effective protection of the EU’s financial interests. This includes using all 
available  sources  of  information,  exchanging  information  among  services  involved  and  giving 
prompt  feedback  on  actions  taken.  Such  permanent  assessment,  exchange  of  information  and 
monitoring  of  risks,  fraud  trends  and  feedback  is  required  for  fine-tuning  the  measures  to  be 
taken and thus for better protection of the EU’s financial interests. 

18 See Annex 11. 
19 Directorate-General (DG) for Budget. While DG Budget has the operational responsibility within the Commission 
for  implementing  inspections  covering  the  collection  of  TOR,  other  Commission  services  (e.g.  DG  Taxation  & 
Customs Union – DG TAXUD) are regularly invited to take part in these inspections to provide specific technical 
expertise. 

19 

 
 
 
 
COMMON AGRICULTURAL POLICY 

3.  COMMON AGRICULTURAL POLICY  

3.1. 

Introduction 

Section 3 presents a statistical evaluation of irregularities and fraud reported by the Member 
States  in  2024  in  expenditure  under  the  common  agricultural  policy  (CAP).  It  provides 
context to these detections by looking at past years and relevant programming periods (PP). 

Nearly  all  expenditure  under  the  CAP  is  disbursed  by  the  Member  States  under  shared 
management.  The  Member  States  must  report  irregularities  and  fraud  to  the  Commission 
through the Irregularity Management System (IMS).  

In  this  section,  when  reference  is  made  to  fraud,  this  includes  both  suspected  fraud  and 
established fraud20. Non-fraudulent irregularities must be reported in IMS only when they are 
detected  after  the  expenditure  has  been  introduced  in  a  statement  submitted  to  the 
Commission.  Both  fraudulent  and  non-fraudulent  irregularities  must  be  reported  when 
involving  financial amounts  above EUR 10 000. Several  Member States  also  reported some 
irregularities  under  this  threshold.  These  irregularities  might  be  inter-linked,  bringing  the 
total financial amounts involved above the threshold. 

For the purpose of communicating the following findings, CAP is split into two main parts: 
(i) support to agriculture, which includes direct aid to farmers and measures to regulate 
the  market  (market  measures);  (ii)  rural  development.  In  general,  the  following  findings 
refer to EU-27.21   

3.2.  General trend 

Graph NR1  below  provides  an  overview  of  the  number  of  irregularities  reported  as 
fraudulent, broken down by year and type of support, for the period 2020-2024. Graph NR2 
shows the financial amounts (EU-share) involved in these irregularities.  

20  ‘Suspected  fraud’  means  an  irregularity  that  gives  rise  to  the  initiation  of  administrative  or  judicial 
proceedings at national level in order to establish the presence of intentional behaviour, in particular fraud, as 
referred to in Article 1(1)(a) of the Convention drawn up on the basis of Article K.3 of the Treaty on European 
Union, on the protection of the European Communities’ financial interests. Regardless of the approach adopted 
by  each  Member  State,  ratification  of  the  1995  Convention  has  equipped  every  country  with  a  basis  for 
prosecuting and possibly imposing penalties for specific conducts. If this happens,  i.e. a guilty verdict is issued 
and is not appealed against, the case can be considered ‘established fraud’. More recently, the Directive (EU) 
2017/1371 (so-called PIF Directive) defines what the Member States are requested to regard as fraud affecting 
the EU’s financial interests. 
21 For the methodology to identify the irregularities related to direct payments to farmers, market measures and 
rural development, please see Annex 12 to the  ‘Statistical evaluation of  irregularities reported for 2021: own 
resources, agriculture, cohesion and fisheries policies, pre-accession and direct expenditure’, SWD(2022)307. 

20 

 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
COMMON AGRICULTURAL POLICY 

Graph NR1: CAP – number of irregularities reported as fraudulent by type of support (EU27)  

Graph NR2: CAP – amounts (EU-share, EUR million) involved in irregularities reported as fraudulent by type 
of support (EU27) 

During  the  period  2020-2024,  fraudulent  irregularities  reported  for  rural  development 
increased,  due  to  rising  number  of  detections  for  PP  2014-2022.  However,  the  number  of 
these rural development fraudulent irregularities was much lower than during the  same first 
11 years of the previous PP 2007-2013, despite the fact that the European Court of Auditors 
considers that rural development has a higher risk of error than direct payments to farmers. 
The  gap  between  the  two  programming  periods  is  clear  since  the  beginning  and  has  been 
constantly  and  significantly  increasing.  However,  there  are  signs  of  the  start  of  a  possible 
reversal of this trend of low reporting. This situation should be monitored to ensure focus on 
fraud detection. The irregularities found under support to agriculture peaked in 2022, when 
the  number  of  these  irregularities  was  influenced  by  France,  reporting  many  inter-linked 

21 

12810623712917312015014822116291277925726839235734405010015020025030035040045020202021202220232024Support to agriculture (SA)Rural development (RD)SA/RDTOTAL CAP EU277.114.87.26.06.519.917.513.219.117.41.90.71.40.20.528.933.021.825.324.40.05.010.015.020.025.030.035.020202021202220232024Support to agriculture (SA)Rural development (RD)SA/RDTOTAL CAP EU27 
 
 
COMMON AGRICULTURAL POLICY 

‘below-threshold’ cases.22 In 2023, the number of irregularities for support to agriculture was 
back to the level of 2020, before rising again in 2024.   

The  fraudulent  irregularities  reported  so  far  do  not  include  yet  the  outcome  of  an 
investigation  of  the  European  Public  Prosecutor’s  Office  (EPPO)  in  Greece  (see  Box  3.1 
below). 

Box 3.1: EPPO investigated fraud involving agricultural funds in Greece. 

On 5 March 2025, EPPO published a press release about an investigation into fraud involving agricultural funds 
for the use of pastureland in Greece, for an overall damage of EUR 2.9 million to the EU budget. EPPO filed 
indictments for a total of 100 suspects. All persons concerned are presumed innocent until proven guilty in the 
competent Greek courts of law. 

According  to  the  investigation,  between  2017-2020,  stockbreeders  applied  for  these  EU  funds,  using  false 
declarations of ownership or falsified lease contracts of plots of land which in reality they did not own or they 
had not leased. The majority of the suspects lived in different parts of the country from what they had declared 
in their applications.  

The full press release can be found at 
https://www.eppo.europa.eu/en/media/news/greece-eppo-brings-100-suspects-to-court-eu29-million-fraud-involving-agricultural-funds 

In general, funding from the EU budget to a project or operation is accompanied by funding 
from  the  national  budget  (co-financing).  The  financial  amounts  mentioned  above  are  the 
EU-share directly involved in the reported irregularities. Available data provide information 
also  on  the  total  financial  amounts  directly  involved  in  the  irregularities  (EU-share  plus 
national share = public contribution share). Irregularities affect projects or operations that are 
not necessarily considered totally irregular. Part of the funding to these projects might still be 
considered regular. Available data provide information also on the EU-share and total value 
of the public contribution granted to the projects or operations affected by the irregularities. 
As  shown  by  Graph NR3,  for  the  period  2020-2024,  the  funding  (EU-share)  granted  to 
projects or operations affected by irregularities reported as fraudulent was EUR 160 million, 
of  which  EUR 133 million  were  the  irregular  financial  amounts  (EU-share)  involved  in 
these projects or operations (83%). In terms of total public contribution, the funding granted 
fraudulent  was 
to  projects  or  operations  affected  by 
EUR 197 million,  of  which  EUR 167 million  were  the  irregular  financial  amounts 
involved in these projects or operations (85%).23       

irregularities 

reported  as 

22 For an analysis of these irregularities reported by France in 2022, see Section 2.1 of ‘Analysis of irregularities 
reported by the Member States – Common Agricultural Policy (July 2023)’, Ares(2023)6053727 on 6/9/2023. 
23 A project/operation can be affected by more than one irregularity. So while summing up the funding to the 
operations associated to each relevant irregularity, there is a risk of considering  the same operation more than 
once. To reduce this risk, an analysis has been carried out to identify the operations/projects affected by more 
than one irregularity. As a first step, through the automatic Excel function ‘remove duplicates’, the exact match 
of  operational  programme  (CCI),  project  name,  project  number  and  funding  (EU-share  and  total  public 
contribution) has been considered as pointing to the same project/operation. However, for a significant share of 
the relevant irregularities, CCI, project name and number are blank. This means that it is enough that the values 
of  the  contribution  (EU-share  and  total  public)  and  the  Member  State  are  the  same  to  consider  that  the 
irregularities  are  referring  to  the  same  project/operation.  However,  this  could  be  wrong  and  might  be  due  to 
support schemes resulting in some sort of standardised contribution to beneficiaries. This would mean that the 
values  of  operations  in  Graph NR3  have  been  excessively  reduced.  However,  at  EU-27  level,  this  reduction 
represents about 0.4% of the total values, so the findings of the analysis are still valid. 

22 

 
 
 
 
 
COMMON AGRICULTURAL POLICY 

Graph NR3: Irregularities reported as fraudulent – Financial amounts involved in irregularities and 
total value of public contribution in affected operations  

Graph NR4  shows  the  number  of  non-fraudulent  irregularities  detected  and  reported  by  the 
Member States, in relation to CAP. Graph NR5 focuses on the financial amounts (EU-share) 
involved.  The  number  of  rural  development  irregularities  not  reported  as  fraudulent 
constantly increased until 2023, in line with the implementation of the programmes, before 
decreasing in 2024. The reporting related to PP 2014-2022 was broadly in line with that of 
the first 11 years of the previous programming period. The number of irregularities related to 
support to agriculture  decreased  for two years in  2022 and 2023  and  was  more  stable in 
2024.  The  irregular  financial  amounts  fluctuated  strongly,  mainly  due  to  the  reporting  in 
some years, where few cases relating to market measures involved exceptional amounts. 

Graph NR4: CAP – number of irregularities not reported as fraudulent by type of support (EU27) 

23 

42875133501037160451165167541358197050100150200SARDMIXTotal CAPMillionsIrregularity (EU-share)Value operations (EU-share)Irregularity (public contrib.)Value operations (public contrib.)8579818626947151,9552,2192,5872,9472,421253237791612,8373,2323,4863,7203,29705001,0001,5002,0002,5003,0003,5004,00020202021202220232024Support to agriculture (SA)Rural development (RD)SA/RDTOTAL CAP EU27 
 
 
 
COMMON AGRICULTURAL POLICY 

 Graph NR5: CAP – amounts (EU-share, EUR million) involved in irregularities not reported as fraudulent by 
type of support (EU27) 

Several  irregularities  cover  both  rural  development  and  direct  payments  to  farmers.  In 
2024, the number of these cases increased significantly (see Graph NR4) due to the reporting 
by Slovakia. Besides rural development, most of these cases reported by Slovakia were about 
infringement of the Single Area Payment Scheme (SAPS) together with violations related to 
payments for agricultural practices beneficial to the climate and the environment. On the rural 
development side, these irregularities mostly impacted on payments to areas facing natural or 
other  specific  constraints,  very  often  together  with  agri-environment-climate  RD  payments. 
See Section 3.3 for more on measures impacted by fraudulent irregularities. 

Different  CAP  areas  cannot  be  simply  compared  on  the  basis  of  the  financial  amounts 
involved in irregularities, because this metric is influenced by the total amount of payments 
received by the Member States. For example, these payments are much higher for direct aid 
than  for  rural  development.  A  better  comparison  can  be  based  on  the  fraud  (FDR)  and 
irregularity (IDR) detection rates. These are ratios between the financial amounts involved in 
the relevant irregularities (fraudulent for FDR and non-fraudulent for IDR) during 2020-2024 
and the relevant payments received by the Member States during the same period. These rates 
are shown in Table NR1. 

 Table NR1: FDR and IDR by type of CAP expenditure – EU27 

24 

51.3102.285.041.833.389.683.489.2163.8107.12.11.64.63.57.7143.0187.2178.7209.1148.20.050.0100.0150.0200.0250.020202021202220232024Support to agriculture (SA)Rural development (RD)SA/RDTOTAL CAP EU27FDR IDRDirect payments (DA) (3)0.02%0.05%Intervention in agricultural markets (MM) (4)0.10%1.68%Support to agriculture (SA) (2)0.02%0.15%Rural development (RD) (1)0.12%0.73%Total CAP0.05%0.31%(2) SA: it does not include the financial amounts involved in SA/RD irregularities. Should they be added, FDR would still be 0.02% and IDR would be 0.16% (3) DA: it includes also the financial amounts involved in irregularities with both direct payments and rural development infringements. Should these 'mixed' irregularities be excluded, FDR would be 0.01% and IDR would be 0.04% (4) MM: it includes also the financial amounts involved in irregularities with both market measures and rural development infringements. Should these 'mixed' irregularities be excluded, FDR would still be 0.10% and IDR would still be 1.67% Table NR9: FDR and IDR by type of CAP expenditure - EU27Type of expenditureIrregularities detected and reported 2020-2024 / Payments 2020-2024Total1.77%0.36%0.85%(1) RD: it does not include the financial amounts involved in SA/RD irregularities. Should they be added, FDR would be 0.13% and IDR would be 0.76% 0.07%0.17% 
 
 
COMMON AGRICULTURAL POLICY 

Detection rates for support to agriculture were much lower than for rural development. 
However,  one  part  of  support  to  agriculture,  interventions  in  agricultural  markets, 
accounted  for  a  FDR  that  is  similar  to  rural  development  and  for  the  highest  IDR.  It 
could  be  argued  that  this  comparison  is  biased  by  a  few  cases  related  to  market  measures 
(2 non-fraudulent  cases)  involving  exceptionally  high  financial  amounts  (more  than 
EUR 10 million  each).  However,  this  does  not  influence  the  FDR  and  concerning  the  IDR, 
even  excluding  these  irregularities  from  the  calculation,  the  IDR  for  market  measures  was 
still the highest, at 1.22%. 

3.3.  Modus operandi 

Direct payments to farmers 

During  the  period  2020-2024,  for  direct  payments  to  farmers,  most  of  the  fraudulent 
irregularities  concerned  falsification  of  the  documentary  proof  or  request  for  aid.  For 
example, applicants may request payments for plots of land they do not have the right to use, 
while  providing  evidence  through  false  lease  agreements  (with  the  signature  of  unaware 
counterparts, with dead counterparts, concerning unavailable public land, etc.). In 2024, after 
the documentary proof, the most reported category of violation concerns the  beneficiary, in 
particular ‘operator/beneficiary not having the required quality’.  

About  75%  of  the  fraudulent  irregularities  related  to  direct  payments  concerned  just 
one  type  of  ‘direct  aid’  measure  and  they  represented  about  55%  of  the  financial 
amounts  involved.   The  majority  of  these  ‘pure’  irregularities  (and  financial  amounts 
involved) concerned the Single Area Payment Scheme (SAPS) 24. The second most reported 
‘pure’  irregularities  (and  financial  amounts  involved)  concerned  payments  for  agricultural 
practices beneficial to the climate and the environment, accounting for about one fifth of the 
‘pure’ irregularities (see also below).  

About 25% of the fraudulent irregularities concerned instead more than one ‘direct aid’ 
measure  and  they  represented  about  45%  of  the  financial  amounts  involved.  After 
agricultural  practices  beneficial  to  the  climate  and  the  environment,  the  Basic  Payment 
Scheme (BPS) 25 is the second most affected measure by these ‘mixed’ irregularities, nearly 
always affected together with payments for agricultural practices beneficial to the climate and 
the environment (see also below). There were relatively few instances of ‘pure’ irregularities 
related to the BPS. In total (‘pure’ and ‘mixed’), irregularities affecting BPS represent more 
than 20% of all fraudulent irregularities.  

About 40% of all fraudulent irregularities concerned agricultural practices beneficial to 
the  climate  and  the  environment. About  half  of  these  irregularities  were  ‘pure’  and  the 
other half were ‘mixed’. As mentioned, most of the time, the ‘mixed’ irregularities featured 
also  infringements  against  the  BPS 26.  About  5%  of  all  fraudulent  irregularities  concerned 
violations  concerning  the  practices  beneficial  for  the  climate  and  the  environment,  in 
combination with BPS and Voluntary Coupled Support (VCS).  There was also a noticeable 

24  SAPS  is  the  simplified  transitional  income  support  scheme  for  farmers  in  the  new  Member  States.  In  total 
(‘pure’  and  ‘mixed’  –  see  below),  irregularities  affecting  SAPS  represented  more  than  40%  of  all  fraudulent 
irregularities   
25 BPS is the entitlement-based support scheme as from 2015.  
26 There were also a number of fraudulent irregularities where infringements against practices beneficial to the 
climate  and  the  environment  were  combined  with  violations  against  the  Single  Payment  System  (SPS)  or  the 
SAPS.  SPS  is  the  support  scheme  between  2004-2013,  which  removed  the  link  between  subsidies  and 
production of specific crops. 

25 

 
 
COMMON AGRICULTURAL POLICY 

number of irregularites where the violation of agricultural practices beneficial to the climate 
and the environment was combined with infringements concerning redistribution payments to 
small  farmers  and/or  payments  for  young  farmers.27  Actually,  the  violations  concerning 
payments  to  young  farmers  were  nearly  always  reported  together  with  violations  related  to 
payments for agricultural practices beneficial to the climate and the environment.28  

About  13%  of  all  fraudulent  irregularities  concerned  VCS.  About  half  of  these 
irregularities  were  ‘pure’  and  the  other  half  were  ‘mixed’.  Where  ‘mixed’,  these  VCS 
irregularities were mainly combined with BPS (or SPS) infringements and/or with violations 
concerning the practices beneficial to the climate and the environment (see above).  

Nearly  10%  of  fraudulent  irregularities  concerned  redistributive  payments  to  small 
farmers or small farmer schemes. The majority of these irregularities were ‘mixed’, nearly 
always  in  combination  with  infringements  concerning  BPS  or  payments  for  practices 
beneficial to the climate and the environment (see above).29 An example of modus operandi 
may  be  the  artificial  splitting  of  agricultural  holdings  to  unduly  get  higher  payments.  For 
instance, following the establishment of straw companies and fictious transfers, the resulting 
entities  would  be  linked  among  each  other  and  would  not  be  autonomous  agricultural 
holdings,  from  a  technical  or  economic  point  of  view.  By  avoiding  ceilings  and  degressive 
payments and by profiting from  regimes in favour of smaller farms, the artificially reduced 
size of the single applicants would result in undue higher payments.  

In  2024,  the  Member  States  reported  the  first  fraudulent  irregularities  related  to 
expenditure  under  their  CAP  Strategic  Plans.  In  the  financial  year  2024,  nearly  all 
expenditure  for  direct  payments  to  farmers  has  been  claimed  under  new  CAP  within  CAP 
Strategic  Plans. About  25%  of  the  fradulent  irregularities  reported  in  2024  by  the  Member 
States  concerned  expenditure  under  their  CAP  Strategic  Plans  and  nearly  all  of  them  were 
related to schemes for the climate and the environment.      

Market measures 

During  the  period  2020-2024,  infringements  related  to  the  falsification  of  documentary 
proof or requests were the most frequent in relation to market measures. About 20% of the 
fraudulent  irregularities  were  related  to  the  implementation  of  the  action,  alone  or  in 
combination with violations concerning the documentary proof. For example, infringements 
related  to  market  measures  may  concern  the  withdrawal  of  agricultural  products  from  the 
market, the cost, actual implementation or actual use for the intended purpose of investments 
by producer organisations - such as works for storage sites or the purchase of machinery or 
equipment.  

During  the  past  10  years,  most  of  the  fraudulent  irregularities  concerned  products  of 
the  wine-growing  sector,  the  fruit  and  vegetables  sector  or  promotion.  For  the 
wine-growing  sector,  the  funding  for  investment,  the  promotion  in  third  countries  and  the 
restructuring and conversion of vineyards were the most affected measures. For the fruit and 
vegetables  sector,  the  most  affected  measure  was  the  aid  to  producer  organisations  for 
preliminary recognition, either as aid to investment or as aid to formation and administrative 
operations or both.   

27 About 8% of all fraudulent irregularities. Some of these irregularities concerned also VCS and BPS, so there 
is an overlap with the other combination reported in the previous sentence. 
28  About  5%  of  all  fraudulent  irregularities  concerned  payments  for  young  farmers  (considering  ‘pure’  and 
mixed’ irregularities). 
29 Farmers participating to the Small Farmer Scheme are exempt from greening.  

26 

 
 
COMMON AGRICULTURAL POLICY 

The funding of market measures under CAP Strategic Plans is gradually increasing and 
this will require an analysis of how also the irregularities concern expenditure within or 
outside  these  Plans.  In  the  financial  year  2023,  just  about  7%  of  expenditure  for  market 
measures  has  been  claimed  under  new  CAP  within  CAP  Strategic  Plans. 30  In  the  financial 
year 2024, this percentage has increased to 34% (about EUR 1 billion).  So far, the Member 
States  have  reported  no  fraudulent  irregularities  and  just  one  non-fraudulent  irregularity 
concerning expenditure for market measures under their CAP Strategic Plans. Usually, only 
for a small percentage of irregularities there is no reference to budget years that are before the 
reporting year, so more irregularities concerning expenditure of the financial year 2024 can 
be expected to be reported in the coming years.31 

Rural development 

More than half of the fraudulent irregularities related to rural development concerned just the 
documentary proof or the request, which most of the time were falsified. Falsification may 
concern,  for  example,  invoices,  declarations  of  equipment  as  new  when  it  is  in  fact 
second-hand,  bids  in  the  context  of  procurement  or  information  on  compliance  with 
conditions for receiving aid. The category ‘beneficiary’ accounted for a significant increase 
of  cases  during  the  period  2022-2024,  in  particular  beneficiaries  not  having  the  required 
quality, as a ‘pure’ violation or in  combination with  other infringements, in  particular  false 
documentary  proof  and  falsification  of  the  request  for  aid.  During  the  period  2020-2024, 
about  12%  of  detections  were  related  to  the  implementation  of  the  action,  alone  or  in 
combination  with  other  infringements.  Under  this  category,  the  most  reported  type  of 
violation was about actions not implemented (or not completed).  

fraudulent 

The  majority  of 
irregularities  concerned  reimbursement-based  or 
project-based  measures. Most  of  these  irregularities  seem  to  concern  investment  in 
agricultural  holdings,  in  particular  investments  in  physical  assets,  and  farm  and  business 
development.  Most  of  the  remaining  rembursement-based 
infrigements  were  about 
diversification  in  rural  areas,  support  for  local  development  or  about  setting  up  young  and 
new  farmers.  Also  in  the  context  of  forestry,  most  of  the  fraudulent  irregularities  seem  to 
concern project-based measures. 

Another  significant  share  of  fraudulent  irregularities  concerned  payments  that  should 
have  been  granted  only  where  certain  conditions  were  satisfied. Most  of  these 
irregularities  seem  to  concern  agro-enviroment  RD  payments.  Most  of  the  remaining 
condition-based  fraudulent  irregularities  were  about  payments  to  farmers  in  areas  facing 
natural or other constraints.  

3.4.  Use of risk analysis and information from informants and media 

In the antifraud cycle, the capability of detecting fraud and irregularities is a key feature that 
helps making the system effective and efficient in protecting the EU budget. In the 2017 PIF 
Report, to boost the capability to detect irregularities, the Commission recommended to the 
Member  States  to  improve  risk  analysis  and  the  use  of  spontaneous  reporting  of  potential 

30  Section  3.1.3.1 of  Annex 7  to  the  Annual  Activity  Report  2023  of  Directorate  General  for  Agriculture  and 
Rural Development. 
31  During  the  period  2020-2023,  for  market  measures,  the  percentage  of  irregularities  (fraudulent  and 
non-fraudulent)  where  no  budget  years  before  the  reporting  year  are  mentioned  ranged  from  6%  to  8%.  For 
2024, this percentage is 2%. 

27 

 
 
COMMON AGRICULTURAL POLICY 

irregularities and strengthening the protection of whistle-blowers that are also a crucial source 
for investigative journalism32. 

During 2020-2024, risk analysis still only marginally contributed to detecting fraud in rural 
development and direct payments to farmers, while in market measures it seems it played a 
stronger  role  (but  only  if  scrutiny  activities  were  actually  based  on  risk  analysis). 
Furthermore,  the  share  of  fraud  detections  based  on  tips  from  informants  and 
whistle-blowers  was  low,  with  the  exception  of  market  measures,  where  it  reached  about 
12%.  However,  this  figure  may  be  volatile  as  it  is  based  on  very  few  cases.  Fraud  was 
detected following information published in the media only once (under direct payments). 

3.5.  Duration of the irregularities 

During 2020-2024, it took on average more than 4 years from the start of the irregularity 
to come to a suspicion that a fraudulent irregularity had been or was being committed and 
about 3 years to close the case after reporting to the Commission. These average durations 
were  shorter  for  non-fraudulent  irregularities.  The  intentional  nature  of  fraudulent 
irregularities  may  contribute  to  explain  the  longer  duration  from  perpetration  to  suspicion. 
Fraudsters  may  go  to  great  lenghts  to  hide  their  behaviour.  The  longer  delay  in  closing 
fraudulent cases is consistent with the need to rely on specialised, more limited resources to 
investigate fraud and the longer duration of criminal proceedings. 

Graph  NR6:  Average  times  from  irregularity  to  case  closure  –  2015-2024  –  Irregularities  reported  as 
fraudulent  

32 Section 4.3 of the ‘29th Annual Report on the Protection of the EU’s financial interests – Fight against fraud 
–  2017’,  COM(2018)553  final  and  ‘Statistical  evaluation  of  irregularities  reported  for  2017:  own  resources, 
agriculture, cohesion and fisheries policies, pre-accession and direct expenditure’, SWD(2018)386 final.  

28 

0.020.040.060.080.0100.0120.0Reporting to case closureDetection to reportingSuspicion to detectionIrregularity to suspicionAvg. duration in months50 months8 months9 monthsNumber of irregularities at the basis of these averagetimes From irregularityto suspicion: 2 969  From suspicionto detection: 2 869From detection to reporting: 3 053From reporting to case closure: 39734 months 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
COMMON AGRICULTURAL POLICY 

Graph  NR7:  Average  times  from  irregularity  to  case  closure  –  2015-2024  –  Irregularities  not  reported  as 
fraudulent  

3.6.  Detection and reporting by Member State 

The  tables  included  in  this  section  show,  for  each  CAP  sector,  the  fraudulent  and 
non-fraudulent  irregularities  reported  by  each  Member  State,  together  with  the  financial 
amounts  (EU-share)  involved,  the  payments  received  during  the  same  period  and  the 
calculation of the FDR and IDR. 

Table NR2 concerns irregularities related to rural development.    

29 

0.010.020.030.040.050.060.070.080.0Reporting to case closureDetection to reportingSuspicion to detectionIrregularity to suspicionAvg. duration in months31 months30 months6 months6 monthsNumber of irregularities at the basis of these averagetimes From irregularityto suspicion: 29 561From suspicionto detection: 30 121From detection to reporting: 30 973From reporting to case closure:9 286 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
COMMON AGRICULTURAL POLICY 

Table  NR2:  Rural  development  2020-2024:  number  of  irregularities,  financial  amounts  (EU-share)  involved 
and detection rates by Member State (1)   

Table NR3 focuses on irregularities related to market measures. 

30 

Financial amounts involved (EU-share)Financial amounts involved (EU-share)PaymentsFDR  (3)IDR (3)NEUREUR%%AT0016769,6782,978,254,7770.000.03BE00601,211,863511,233,4210.000.24BG81,081,74362443,645,5991,516,530,8290.072.88CY3866,92400113,979,7490.760.00CZ11728,4772066,093,6541,644,306,7440.040.37DE221,387,4082487,974,0637,608,304,8950.020.10DK625,492,101581,826,498597,854,7000.920.31EE11813,620,1901284,872,043529,956,9942.570.92ES147,145,0421,26577,439,3416,476,049,2760.111.20FI133,624692,784,9791,651,142,1570.000.17FR48827,81554914,325,5859,862,822,7750.010.15GR11,019,3791,21917,830,2943,629,207,1380.030.49HR102,003,81942726,549,6111,754,840,8130.111.51HU18409,1591,27337,567,4213,180,327,5100.011.18IE00110,9781,673,001,9970.000.00IT387,276,25550040,020,0578,229,004,0890.090.49LT713,449,70838111,215,2251,122,870,1080.311.00LU00252,72877,136,7710.000.07LV253,616,592702,712,590661,562,0600.550.41MT4354,101301,761,63782,033,3650.432.15NL19,69811668,640796,512,4020.000.08PL502,450,9801,71741,403,4196,819,276,1710.040.61PT9976,9601,10535,429,1302,783,981,0470.041.27RO25827,368,6781,860131,004,1215,656,793,5900.482.32SE21,013,815441,314,6711,426,778,3210.070.09SI2116,502391,251,083689,861,1680.020.18SK255,809,04722723,394,143863,910,2900.672.71TOTAL EU2780187,058,01712,129533,129,05172,937,533,1550.120.73UK (2)18387,3252558,059,9032,017,710,9400.020.40Member State(2) As of 1 February 2020, the UK is no longer part of the EU (3) FDR are calculated based on the financial amounts (EU-share) involved in irrregularities reported as fraudulent (third column). IDR are calculated based on the financial amounts (EU-share) involved in irrregularities not reported as fraudulent (fifth column). 2020-2024(1) Only irregularities exclusively concerning rural developmentIrregularities not reported as fraudulent 2020-24Irregularities reported as fraudulent 2020-24 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
COMMON AGRICULTURAL POLICY 

Table NR3: Market measures 2020-2024: number of irregularities, financial amounts (EU-share) involved and 
detection rates by Member State (1)   

Table NR4 concerns irregularities related to direct payments to farmers. 

31 

Financial amounts involved (EU-share)Financial amounts involved (EU-share)PaymentsFDR (2)IDR (2)NEUREUR%%AT41,156,09712738,674125,663,0090.920.59BE005453,910329,417,9990.000.14BG41,097,947225,356,011143,825,5330.763.72CY000028,879,5530.000.00CZ009365,905108,483,4130.000.34DE2573,311223,778,333696,602,8510.080.54DK002310,90175,168,4680.000.41EE000011,286,8720.000.00ES0041621,208,8103,150,952,9800.000.67FI000052,096,0340.000.00FR11707,55932421,727,0262,905,228,6040.020.75GR12,543,01724802,615359,722,0670.710.22HR11,315,4557987,97970,103,8601.881.41HU00453,365,568215,319,3100.001.56IE129,83600127,075,4920.020.00IT143,85426821,050,7393,365,764,5860.000.63LT004524,94435,727,4930.001.47LU00003,580,5150.000.00LV000025,969,5560.000.00MT00001,263,8280.000.00NL0010176,608336,156,2080.000.05PL64,961,40478133,130,327291,997,4991.7045.59PT3376,3641305,722,833526,744,5180.071.09RO7518,827696,953,129364,775,9210.141.91SE00140,44781,676,2610.000.05SI006176,74345,314,4110.000.39SK002103,37471,002,7460.000.15TOTAL EU274113,323,6711,456226,974,87613,549,799,5850.101.68(2) FDR are calculated based on the financial amounts (EU-share) involved in irrregularities reported as fraudulent (third column). IDR are calculated based on the financial amounts (EU-share) involved in irrregularities not reported as fraudulent (fifth column).  2020-2024(1) One fraudulent irregularity concerned also direct payments and rural development. Four non-fraudulent irregularities concerned also direct payments to farmers and two of these four also rural development.Member StateIrregularities reported as fraudulent 2020-24Irregularities not reported as fraudulent 2020-24 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
COMMON AGRICULTURAL POLICY 

Table  NR4:  Direct  payments  to  farmers  2020-2024:  number  of  irregularities,  financial  amounts  (EU-share) 
involved and detection rates by Member State (1)   

The  detection  of  irregularities  was  concentrated  in  a  few  Member  States.  A  deeper 
analysis of concentration was included in the 2018 PIF Report.33 That analysis found that the 
concentration  of  detections  went  beyond  what  could  be  expected  given  the  level  of 
concentration of payments. This could be due to many different factors, including different 
underlying  levels  of  irregularities  and  fraud,  differences  in  the  quality  of  the  prevention  or 
detection  work.  The  concentration  of  detections  was  more  accentuated  for  fraudulent 
rather than for non-fraudulent irregularities. This suggests that different approaches to 
criminal investigation and prosecution could have been an additional and significant factor 
giving rise to these different levels of detection across the Member States. Different practices 
concerning the stage of the procedure when potentially fraudulent irregularities are reported 
may also play a role. 

33  Section  3.4.3  of  ‘Statistical  evaluation  of  irregularities  reported  for  2018:  own  resources,  agriculture, 
cohesion and fisheries policies, pre-accession and direct expenditure’, SWD(2019)365 final. 

32 

Financial amounts involved (EU-share)Financial amounts involved (EU-share)PaymentsFDR  (3)IDR (3)NEURN%%AT00348,2683,415,005,0140.000.00BE0038870,8752,424,762,9240.000.04BG007121,7984,020,273,3110.000.00CY13,10200236,440,9870.000.00CZ4420,38224503,0034,222,282,3960.010.01DE10502,3571603,236,97722,898,069,0090.000.01DK00691,930,4034,039,250,4560.000.05EE38596,78000886,196,8260.070.00ES14519,54166316,223,18325,341,814,6250.000.06FI00120,1622,600,066,3260.000.00FR1543,239,5756227,50934,307,586,6300.010.00GR7171,8594697,716,9649,704,524,3970.000.08HR0026549,5521,798,314,2350.000.03HU1011267,3086,439,303,2820.000.00IE129,836005,915,153,9260.000.00IT1008,326,48359037,944,00917,620,775,5340.050.22LT477,6281102,443,6102,727,563,7870.000.09LU0000163,570,5400.000.00LV009174,1601,533,404,6840.000.01MT000029,678,8580.000.00NL8230,52162981,8313,191,369,8410.010.03PL371,902,0431317,150,22216,850,452,0150.010.04PT26,40645921,2043,751,234,5910.000.02RO37213,437,30324715,588,0389,500,001,9010.140.16SE118,7117111,1233,413,771,7070.000.00SI00347,535658,218,4830.000.01SK122,133,8432376,355,2552,032,666,4280.100.31TOTAL EU2776631,616,3702,918103,432,988189,721,752,7120.020.05UK (2)3213,652721,800,6513,161,734,6190.010.06(2) As of 1 February 2020, the UK is no longer part of the EU (3) FDR are calculated based on the financial amounts (EU-share) involved in irrregularities reported as fraudulent (third column). IDR are calculated based on the financial amounts (EU-share) involved in irrregularities not reported as fraudulent (fifth column).   Member StateIrregularities reported as fraudulent 2020-24Irregularities not reported as fraudulent 2020-242020-2024(1) A number of irregularities concerned both direct payments to farmers and other CAP areas (mostly rural development) 
 
 
COMMON AGRICULTURAL POLICY 

3.7. 

Follow-up to suspected fraud 

The  Member  States  may  report  irregularities  as  non-fraudulent  (just  administrative 
irregularities)  or  as  fraudulent  (suspected  or  established  fraud)  and  they  may  change  this 
classification  during  the  lifetime  of  the  irregularities.  The  following  analysis  provides 
intelligence on how the Member States followed-up suspected fraud they detected during the 
period  2014-2024.34  The  irregularities  that  have  been  cancelled  are  excluded  from  this 
analysis.  

For 10% of the irregularities reported during 2014-2024, there is or has been a suspicion of 
fraud.  This  percentage  does  not  significantly  change  in  the  different  years  of  the  timespan 
considered  in  the  analysis  (irregularities  are  associated  to  the  year  of  first  reporting).  For 
11% of the irregularities where there is or has been a suspicion of fraud, this suspicion was 
not  initially  detected  or  reported  and  the  Member  State  reclassified  the  irregularity  as 
fraudulent at a later stage.  

For  17%  of  the  irregularities  with  a  suspicion  of  fraud,  the  suspicion  was  then 
confirmed  as  established  fraud  (see  Graph NR8  below).  The  best  results  in  terms  of 
established fraud are about 25% (in 2015, 2018 and 2020), but with no clear pattern, because 
they are not all related to the years that are further in the past. The worst years are 2014 and 
2022.  

For 12% of the irregularities with a suspicion of fraud, the suspicion was then dismissed 
and  the  irregularities  are  considered  just  administrative  (see  Graph NR8  below).  This 
percentage  tends  to  be  higher  for  the  period  2014-2017  than  for  the  more  recent  period 
2020-2024, in line with expectations. 

Most  of  the  irregularities  where  there  was  a  suspicion  of  fraud  are  still  classified  as 
suspected  fraud,  even  if  several  years  have  elapsed  since  the  initial  reporting  (see 
Graph NR8 above). This percentage changes year on year, but is very high also for years that 
are further in the past. 

34 To include an irregularity in this analysis, the relevant year is the year to which the Member State allocate the 
irregularity in IMS (reporting year). Changes to the classification of the irregularities until 8/3/2025 (date of the 
download of IMS data for this analysis) are considered.  

33 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
COMMON AGRICULTURAL POLICY 

Graph  NR8:  CAP  –  percentage  of  dismissals,  pending  suspected  fraud  and  established  fraud  per  year  of 
reporting 

Focusing  on  the  irregularities  that  were  initially  reported  during  2014-2018,  significant 
differences between Member States can be found (see Table NR5 below). Focusing on this 
period means focusing on irregularities that have been reported between 6 and 11 years ago. 
In the Member States with low incidence of fraud, the competent authorities should invest in 
detecting signals  of  fraud and, when discovering irregularities, should carefully address  the 
question  of  intentionality.  Low  incidence  of  fraud  could  also  be  due  to  reporting  practices 
delaying  classification  as  suspected  fraud.  Considering  that  the  most  recent  irregularities  in 
this analysis have been reported 6 years ago, these reporting practices should be reviewed or 
engagement with the judicial authorities should be improved. 

34 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
COMMON AGRICULTURAL POLICY 

Table  NR5:  CAP:  follow-up  to  suspected  fraud  by  Member  State  –  Irregularities  initially  reported  during 
2014-2018 (1) 

In  many  Member  States,  the  percentage  of  irregularities  still  classified  as  suspected 
fraud is high. This may suggest that the judicial authorities do not give proper follow-up to 
these suspicions, including because they may not have sufficient resources. Alternatively, it 
could  be  that  there  are  no  proper  communication  channels  from  judicial  to  reporting 
authorities. This high percentage of irregularities still classified as suspected fraud could also 
be due to persistent suspicions of the paying agencies, while criminal proceedings were not 
started, were prevented by the statute of limitations or did not lead to enough evidence about 
fraud.  

35 

Pending suspected fraudN.ratioN.%N.%N.%AT00.000%3%133%00%267%BE00.000%2%00%1100%00%BG110.0313%17%3644%911%3745%CY00.000%21%00%00%6100%CZ30.028%18%38%3793%00%DE30.019%9%2061%824%515%DK10.017%16%427%533%640%EE40.0314%16%13%1138%1759%ES20.005%3%3170%00%1330%FI00.00NA0%0NA0NA0NAFR10.002%7%1422%914%4164%GR50.0129%3%00%00%17100%HR20.0213%14%425%744%531%HU180.028%20%3716%188%17476%IE10.003%12%13%39%3189%IT900.0436%10%3815%83%20682%LT10.003%5%00%00%40100%LU00.000%50%00%00%1100%LV50.0516%24%39%722%2269%MT00.000%4%00%00%1100%NL20.009%5%939%1461%00%PL80.012%31%10226%4612%24963%PT100.0134%2%13%621%2276%RO400.018%14%214%17134%30461%SE00.000%3%00%00%2100%SI00.000%11%00%218%982%SK70.0421%18%412%26%2882%EU-272140.0111%11%33017%36419%1,23864%(2) Number of irregularities that, at any moment in their lifetime, have been reclassified from administrative to fraudulent over the number of administrative irregularities that have never been reclassified. (3) Percentage of irregularities that have been reclassified from administrative to fraudulent over the total number of fraudulent irregularities (including the reclassified and the ones that have been classified as fraudulent since the beginning) (1) The irregularities that were reported and then cancelled are not included in this analysis(4) Percentage of irregularities that, at any moment in their lifetime, were classified are fraudulent over the total number of irregularities reportedMember StateReclassification (2)Incidence of riclassification (3) DismissalEstablished fraudIncidence of fraud (4) 
 
COHESION AND FISHERIES 

4.  COHESION AND FISHERIES POLICIES  

4.1. 

Introduction 

Section 4 presents a statistical evaluation of irregularities and fraud reported by the Member 
States  during  2024,  with  reference  to  the  cohesion  and  fishery  policies.  It  places  these 
detections in the context of past years and relevant programming periods (PP). 

Expenditure  under  the  cohesion  and  fisheries  policies  is  disbursed  by  the  Member  States 
under  shared  management.  The  Member  States  must  report  irregularities  and    fraud  to  the 
Commission  through  the  Irregularity  Management  System  (IMS).  Non-fraudulent 
irregularities must be reported in IMS only when they are detected after the expenditure has 
been  introduced  in  a  statement  submitted  to  the  Commission.  Both  fraudulent  and 
non-fraudulent  irregularities  must  be  reported  when  involving  financial  amounts  above 
EUR 10 000. Several  Member  States  also  reported  some  irregularities  under  this  threshold. 
These irregularities might be inter-linked, bringing the total financial amounts involved above 
the threshold. In this section, when reference is made to fraud, this includes both suspected 
fraud and established fraud35.  

4.2.  General trend 

Fraudulent  irregularities  related  to  PP  2007-2013  peaked  in  2015,  before  gradually 
decreasing  in  the  following  years.  In  2018  they  were  overtaken  by  those  related  to 
PP 2014-2020 (see Table CP136). This trend is in line with known trends and patterns in the 
detection and reporting of irregularities and is linked to the implementation cycles. 

35  ‘Suspected  fraud’  means  an  irregularity  that  gives  rise  to  the  initiation  of  administrative  or  judicial 
proceedings at national level in order to establish the presence of intentional behaviour, in particular fraud, as 
referred to in Article 1(1)(a) of the Convention drawn up on the basis of Article K.3 of the Treaty on European 
Union, on the protection of the European Communities’ financial interests. Regardless of the approach adopted 
by  each  Member  State,  ratification  of  the  1995  Convention  has  equipped  every  country  with  a  basis  for 
prosecuting and possibly imposing penalties for specific conducts. If this happens,  i.e. a guilty verdict is issued 
and is not appealed against, the case can be considered ‘established fraud’. More recently, the Directive (EU) 
2017/1371 (so-called PIF Directive) defines what the Member States are requested to regard as fraud affecting 
the EU’s financial interests. 
36 ESF+ is the successor of ESF for the PP 2021-2027. It brings together the ESF, FEAD, YEI and EaSI (which 
is implemented by the Commission and not covered by IMS). This is why in Table CP1 also FEAD and YEI are 
reported.  This  increases  comparability  between  2024  (when  the  first  ESF+  irregularities  were  reported)  and 
previous years. However, FEAD and YEI are covered also by Section 4.9, on the other internal policies. 

36 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
COHESION AND FISHERIES 

Table  CP1:  Number  of  fraudulent  irregularities  by  programming  period  and  Fund  –  Cohesion  and  Fisheries 
Policies     

For  PP  2007-2013,  since  2020,  the  financial  amounts  involved  remained  quite  stable, 
fluctuating  around  an  average  of  about  EUR  28  million.  For  PP  2014-2020,  the  financial 
amounts have  significantly increased in 2024.  This  increase is  due to  the Cohesion  Fund 
and, to a lesser extent, to the ERDF (see Table CP2). About half of the increase related to the 
Cohesion  Fund  is  due  to  8  cases  reported  by  Romania,  each  of  them  with  more  the 
EUR 10 million  involved.  All  of  these  cases  concern  the  provision  of  water  for  human 
consumption  (extraction,  treatment,  storage  and  distribution  infrastructure).  The  increase 
related  to  the  ERDF  is  mainly  due  to  one  irregularity  reported  by  Portugal,  where  about 
EUR 40 million are involved.      

37 

202020212022202320242020-2024NNNNNNProgramming Period 2021-202700002424ERDF00002020ESF+000044Programming Period 2014-201701411632403481,062CF1163112960ERDF938590132194594ESF60466178112357EMFF44921332FEAD200305YEI00014014Programming Period 2007-134344213725170CF4501313ERDF3426133017120ESF4902217EFF1484320Programming Period 2000-06001001ERDF001001TOTAL EU272131851852773971,257UK(1)410117PROGRAMMING PERIOD / FUNDIrregularities reported as fraudulent(1) As of 1 February 2020, the UK is no longer part of the EU  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
COHESION AND FISHERIES 

Table  CP2:  Financial  amounts  involved  in  fraudulent  irregularities  by  programming  period  and  Fund  – 
Cohesion and Fisheries Policies     

In general, funding from the EU budget to a project or operation is accompanied by funding 
from  the  national  budget  (co-financing).  The  financial  amounts  mentioned  above  are  the 
EU-share of the financial amounts  directly involved in the reported irregularities. Available 
data  provide  information  also  on  the  total  financial  amounts  directly  involved  in  the 
irregularities (EU-share plus national share = public contribution share). Irregularities affect 
projects or operations that are not necessarily considered totally irregular. Part of the funding 
to  these  projects  or  operations  might  still  be  considered  regular.  Available  data  provide 
information  also  on  the  EU-share  and  total  value  of  the  public  contribution  granted  to  the 
projects or operations affected by the reported irregularities. As shown by Graph CP1, for the 
period  2020-2024  in  relation  to  the  cohesion  and  fisheries  policies,  the  funding  (EU-share) 
granted  to  projects  or  operations  affected  by  irregularities  reported  as  fraudulent  was  about 
EUR 6.4 billion,  of  which  about  EUR 0.9 billion  (14%)  were  the  irregular  financial 
amounts  (EU-share)  involved  in  these  projects  or  operations.  In  terms  of  total  public 
contribution, the funding granted to projects or operations affected by irregularities reported 
as  fraudulent  was  about  EUR 7.6 billion,  of  which  about  EUR 1.1 billion  were  the 
irregular financial amounts involved in these projects or operations. 37 

37 A project/operation can be affected by more than one irregularity. So while summing up the funding to the 
operations associated to each relevant irregularity, there is a risk of considering the same operation more than 
once. To reduce this risk, an analysis has been carried out to identify the operations/projects affected by more 
than one irregularity. As a first step, through the automatic Excel function ‘remove duplicates’, the exact match 
of  operational  programme,  project  number  and  funding  (EU-share  and  total  public  contribution)  has  been 
considered as pointing to the same project/operation. Then a number of other hypotheses have been formulated 
about other irregularities that could be related to the same projects/operations, despite the absence of the exact 
match. These hypotheses have been checked with the Member States. This brought to the values in Graph CP1. 

38 

202020212022202320242020-2024EUREUREUREUREUREURProgramming Period 2021-2027000018,316,62418,316,624ERDF000018,013,13618,013,136ESF+0000303,488303,488Programming Period 2014-2044,881,301158,747,721100,802,66795,332,432344,524,817744,288,938CF10,883,48474,178,23411,362,8152,458,831200,745,599299,628,963ERDF27,165,00174,265,79682,051,10783,156,281128,115,840394,754,025ESF6,117,5009,814,0976,401,3859,614,63513,684,83545,632,452EMFF667,156489,594987,36064,0551,978,5434,186,708FEAD48,1600015,808063,968YEI00022,822022,822Programming Period 2007-1343,067,56426,956,30631,644,78626,772,93912,215,405140,657,000CF1,902,89210,235,8940156,7321,487,27713,782,795ERDF36,899,50614,049,90813,021,54123,429,63010,255,54697,656,131ESF4,212,3881,669,729089,80023,6725,995,589EFF52,7781,000,77518,623,2453,096,777448,91023,222,485Programming Period 2000-0600455,67500455,675ERDF00455,67500455,675TOTAL EU2787,948,865185,704,027132,903,128122,105,371375,056,846903,718,237UK(1)250,89400133,327379,418763,639PROGRAMMING PERIOD / FUNDIrregularities reported as fraudulent(1) As of 1 February 2020, the UK is no longer part of the EU  
 
 
 
 
COHESION AND FISHERIES 

Graph CP1: Irregularities reported as fraudulent 2020-2024 – Financial amounts involved in irregularities and 
value of public contribution in affected operations 

The difference between the financial amounts directly involved in the irregularities and 
the  public  contribution  to  the  affected  operations  is  significant  (see  Graph CP1).  This 
may also be due to the type of operations or projects, where the discovery that a transaction is 
fraudulent  does  not  automatically  put  into  question  other  transactions  under  the  same 
operation  or  larger  project.38  Targeted  ex  post  controls  of  other  final  recipients  or  other 
contractors once the detected irregularities led to identify risks and vulnerabilities that could 
apply  also  to  them  (under  the  same  operation  or  large  project)  could  reduce  the  difference 
between the financial amounts involved in the irregularities and the public contribution to the 
affected operations (see also Section 4.5 on risk analysis). 

In general, low proportion between the financial amounts involved in the irregularities 
and  the  total  value  of  the  affected  operation/project  may  imply  risks  of  persistent 
funding to fraudsters. A low proportion means that there is fraud (or a suspicion of fraud), 
but the relevant authorities assess that this concerns just part of the operation/project, while 
the remaining part is legal and regular and funding is confirmed. While it depends on the type 
of  operation/project  and  on  the  type  and  specific  circumstances  of  the  detected  fraudulent 
practice,  adequate  checks  should  be  put  in  place  to  get  reasonable  assurance  that  the 
remaining  funding  to  the  affected  operation/project  is  free  from  fraud  (for  example,  other 
contracts  under  the  same  project  or  subsidies  to  other  final  recipients  under  the  same 
operation managed by the same authority or intermediate body). 

Turning to the non-fraudulent irregularities, the decrease in the number and financial 
amounts related to PP 2007-2013 was significant (see Tables CP3 and CP4). As mentioned, 
this  is  in  line  with  the  multiannual  nature  of  structural  programmes,  which  were  closed 
already in 2015.  

38 For example, there may be operations where the beneficiary is the Ministry of Labour, which redistributed the 
funds  to  the  final  recipients. In  such  a  case,  the  fraudulent  irregularities  related  to  one final  recipient  may  be 
isolated and negligible when compared to the value of the overall operation managed by the Ministry of Labour. 

39 

313511522790436760262371,0672,8422,2871,248316,4073,3372,7071,473417,55801,0002,0003,0004,0005,0006,0007,0008,000CFERDFESFFisheriesTot Cohesionand FisheriesEUR millionGraph CP1: Irregularities reported as fraudulent 2020-2024Financial amounts involved in irregularities and value of public contribution in affected operationsIrregularity (EU-share)Irregularity (public contr.)Value operations (EU-share)Value operations (pub. contr.) 
 
 
COHESION AND FISHERIES 

In practice,  reporting of non-fraudulent irregularities related to PP 2014-2020 began in 
2016. Since then, these  detections and irregular  financial amounts have  been increasing  for 
all  funds,  but  less  than  expected  when  compared  to  the  previous  programming  period 
(see Section 4.3 below). Reporting related to PP 2021-2027 has just started. The comparison 
between  the  first  4  years  of  the  programming  period  2014-2020  (2014-2017)  and  the  first 
4 years  of  the  programming  period  2021-2027  (2021-2024)  points  to  the  possibility  of 
another significant decrease in the reporting of non-fraudulent irregularities. 

Table CP3: Number of irregularities not reported as fraudulent by programming period and Fund – Cohesion 
and Fisheries Policies     

40 

202020212022202320242020-2024NNNNNNProgramming Period 2021-2700009191CF000022ERDF00008181ESF+000088Programming Period 2014-201,9732,0742,3692,5652,90811,889CF122116167233267905ERDF1,3091,2841,5741,6451,8707,682ESF4885785165516812,814EMFF34639210277368FEAD14261916883YEI67118537Programming Period 2007-13303180927061706CF292517111395ERDF223131604924487ESF361386366EFF1511742158Programming Period 2000-0696241132CF010102ERDF3302917ESF121105GUID501028TOTAL EU272,2852,2602,4632,6393,07112,718UK(1)304350296361807(1) As of 1 February 2020, the UK is no longer part of the EU PROGRAMMING PERIOD/ FUNDIrregularities not reported as fraudulent 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
COHESION AND FISHERIES 

Table CP4: Financial amounts involved in irregularities not reported as fraudulent by programming period and 
Fund – Cohesion and Fisheries Policies     

An analysis has been carried out during 2024, based on data until 2023 included, to identify 
the areas of the cohesion policy that are more impacted by fraud or more vulnerable to 
fraud.39     

4.3.  Comparison programming periods 2007-2013 and 2014-2020 

The  PP  2014-2020  started  11  years  ago.  To  put  the  trend  concerning  PP  2014-2020  into 
perspective,  it  can  be  compared  with  the  number  of  the  irregularities  that  were  recorded 
during the first 11 years of the PP 2007-2013.  

Until the tenth year from the start of the programming periods, the number of irregularities 
reported  as  fraudulent  for  PP  2014-2020  were  lower  than  for  PP 2007-2013,  with  an 
increasing  gap  between  the  two  programming  periods.40  During  the  eleventh  year,  the 
reporting  of  irregularities  for  PP 2014-2020  has  accelerated,  reducing  this  gap  (see 
Graph CP2 below). The current EU-27 gap is the outcome of different patterns followed by 
different Funds. The irregularities reported as fraudulent for the Cohesion Fund significantly 
increased  from  PP 2007-2013  to  PP  2014-2020,  while  those  for  the  ERDF  decreased  and 
those for ESF are aligned for the two programming periods.  

39  See  Section  4.4  of  ‘Statistical  evaluation  of  irregularities  reported  for  2023:  own  resources,  agriculture, 
cohesion and fisheries policies, pre-accession and direct expenditure’, SWD(2024) 193 final, 25/7/2024.  
40 This is also due to the fact that, at the end of 2015, Spain reported in IMS about 100 fraudulent irregularities 
related  to  ERDF  under  PP  2007-2013,  for  specific  reasons  (see  sudden  increased  in  the  blue  curve  in 
Graph CP2).  Spain  has  indicated  that  it  has  a  reporting  backlog  also  related  to  PP  2014-2020,  which  has  not 
been solved yet. Most of the irregularities in the backlog are likely to be non-fraudulent, but some of them may 
be fraudulent. 

41 

202020212022202320242020-2024NNNNNNProgramming Period 2021-2700006,781,7436,781,743CF0000175,153175,153ERDF00006,460,1906,460,190ESF+0000146,400146,400Programming Period 2014-20340,097,341443,539,973455,781,332554,250,860577,113,1342,370,782,640CF98,073,46046,211,615126,096,687138,371,633105,709,000514,462,395ERDF201,948,373200,685,294280,752,863309,134,918386,282,4251,378,803,873ESF35,602,805185,634,57637,217,20277,551,87974,798,753410,805,215EMFF2,781,7137,332,7498,493,5736,546,0367,738,31032,892,381FEAD1,269,1101,927,3243,201,1087,813,229711,56214,922,333YEI421,8801,748,41519,89914,833,1651,873,08418,896,443Programming Period 2007-13122,360,227159,790,71115,866,90327,198,49637,093,442362,309,779CF44,055,87192,396,1661,439,2123,195,6706,403,125147,490,044ERDF64,467,23462,349,87312,877,16922,611,19925,245,631187,551,106ESF10,891,6224,014,145776,602143,943624,06616,450,378EFF2,945,5001,030,527773,9201,247,6844,820,62010,818,251Programming Period 2000-06595,4214,943,336214,9644,870,6473,625,29814,249,666CF03,733,80504,268,12508,001,930ERDF355,321178,5960564,4883,174,6034,273,008ESF65,8221,030,935125,00038,03401,259,791GUID174,278089,9640450,695714,937TOTAL EU27463,052,989608,274,020471,863,199586,320,003624,613,6172,754,123,828UK(1)20,782,28610,581,6351,605,5595,408,33713,976,40152,354,218(1) As of 1 February 2020, the UK is no longer part of the EU PROGRAMMING PERIOD/ FUNDIrregularities not reported as fraudulent 
 
 
COHESION AND FISHERIES 

Graph  CP2:  Cohesion  and  Fisheries  policies:  comparison  between  reporting  for  PP  2007-2013  and 
PP 2014-2020 – Cumulative number of irregularities reported as fraudulent (EU27) – Zoom on the first years 
of the programming periods 

Focusing  instead  on  the  non-fraudulent  irregularities,  the  fall  in  the  number  of  cases 
reported after 11 years from the start of the programming periods is striking (see Graph CP3 
below). It concerns all funds. 

42 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
COHESION AND FISHERIES 

Graph  CP3:  Cohesion  and  Fisheries  policies:  comparison  between  reporting  for  PP  2007-2013  and 
PP 2014-2020  –  Cumulative  number  of  irregularities  not  reported  as  fraudulent  (EU27)  –  Zoom  on  the  first 
years of the programming periods 

4.4. 

Specific analysis – irregularities and fraud by type of violation 

With  regard  to  fraudulent  irregularities,  the  most  frequent  infringements  during 
PP 2014-2020 concerned the supporting documents. More than 20% of the infringements 
related  to  supporting  documents  (and  nearly  40%  of  the  financial  amounts  involved)  were 
fraudulent  (see  FFL  and  FAL41  in  Table CP5  below42).  Most  of  the  time,  false  or  falsified 
documents were used. 

41 FFL  (Fraud Frequency Level)  is the ratio between the number of fraudulent irregularities reported during a 
certain  period  and  the  total  number  of  irregularities  (fraudulent  and  non-fraudulent)  reported  during  the  same 
period. FAL (Fraud Amount Level) is a similar indicator, but based on the financial amounts involved. 
42 For further details about the content of the categories of irregularities listed in Table CP5, please see Annex 
13  to  ‘Statistical  evaluation  of  irregularities  reported  for  2021:  own  resources,  agriculture,  cohesion  and 
fisheries policies, pre-accession and direct expenditure’, SWD(2022)307 final 

43 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
COHESION AND FISHERIES 

Table CP5: Categories of irregularity – Cohesion policy (PP 2014-2020) 

often 

consisted 

infringements  of 

contract  provisions/rules 

Fraudulent 
in 
non-implementation  of  the  funded  action.  Infringements  were  also  often  reported  as 
incomplet implementation of the action, failure to respect deadlines or generic infringements 
with  regard  to  the  co-financing  system.  The  frequency  of  fraud  was  rather  low,  despite 
infringements  concerning  contract  provisions  were  the  second  most  reported  among  the 
non-fraudulent  irregularities.  This  translated  into  a  low  FFL  (6%,  see  Table CP5  above). 
Reporting related to PP 2021-2027 has just started, so it is too early to identify new patterns. 
More  than  half  of  the  few  non-fraudulent  irregularities  reported  so  far  in  relation  to 
PP 2021-2027 concerned infrigements of contract provisions/rules (most of the time failure to 
respect deadlines). This may be due to a specific situation that does not represent an emerging 
pattern,  also  because  nearly  all  of  these  non-fraudulent  irregularities  have  been  reported  by 
one Member State.   

Infringements  of  public  procurement  rules  were  the  most  reported  non-fraudulent 
irregularities, but they rarely led to a suspicion of fraud. Despite in only 3% of the public 
procurement  infringements  fraud  was  suspected,  these  cases  represent  11%  of  the  financial 
amounts  involved  in  public  procurement  infringements.  Where  the  suspicion  of  fraud  was 
specified,  the  most  reported  infringements  were  (i)  bid-rigging;  (ii)  conflict  of  interests  (v) 
use  of  discriminatory,  unrelated  or  disproportionate  criteria  or  technical  specification.  The 
low frequency of fraudulent cases against the background of so many  infringements suggests 
a  need  for  improvement  either  in  fraud  detection  concerning  public  procurement  or  in  the 
administrative  capability  of  contracting  authorities.  While  no  assessment  can  be  made  on 
single cases, there are irregularities not reported as suspected fraud where reference is made, 
for  example,  to  bid  rigging,  conflict  of  interests,  unjustified  direct  award,  modifications  of 
tenders during evaluation, etc.     

Most  of  fraudulent  infringements  concerning  ethics  and  integrity  were  related  to 
conflict  of  interests.  Ethics  and  integrity  is  the  category  of  infringement  with  the  highest 
FFL and FAL. Four out of ten infringements and eight out of ten Euro concerning ethics and 
integrity  were  fraudulent  (see  Table CP5  above).  An  analysis  has  been  carried  out  of  the 

44 

NEUREUR/avgFFL %FAL%NEUREUR/avgIncorrect, missing, false or falsified supporting documents517186,537,593360,80822391,870293,058,556156,716Infringement of contract provisions/rules295111,333,905377,4036144,442702,708,359158,196Infringement of public procurement rules149152,586,1751,024,0683114,4941,176,063,787261,696Ethics and integrity127136,594,5561,075,548427617243,357,155252,076Eligibility / Legitimacy of expenditure/measure3041,418,2321,380,6083201,018167,561,941164,599Infringements concerning the request124105,805,264853,268356122668,948,839305,083Violations/breaches by the operator7124,175,726340,503152040595,023,085234,625Incorrect, absent, falsified accounts7617,798,366234,189101666193,217,014141,024Product, species and/or land4810,306,658214,722142128439,363,131138,603Multiple financing153,113,138207,5433155332,564,85277,723Bankruptcy133,953,328304,102111610420,028,199192,579State aid102,053,020205,3024627530,125,347109,547Movement14,6124,61250201,517,63075,882Other179256,176,3291,431,15311331,396522,297,965374,139blank205,762,995288,15071728328,070,44799,189Total number of irregularities EU 27 (1)1,234833,222,241675,22182313,6692,866,164,049209,684(1) This is not the sum of the figures above, because one irregularity can refer to more than one categoryIrregularities not reported as fraudulentCategories of irregularitiesIrregularities reported as fraudulentFinancial amounts (EU-share)Financial amounts (EU-share) 
 
COHESION AND FISHERIES 

cases  of  corruption  reported  since  2007  in  relation  to  programming  periods  2007-2013  and 
2014-2020 (see Box 4.1 below). 

Box 4.1: Corruption and fraud in the cohesion policy 

This analysis explored the relation between corruption and fraud to the detriment of the EU’s financial interests, focusing on 
corruption  perpetrated  by  public  officials.  The  analysis  covered  all  irregularities  (i)  reported  by  the  Member  States  as 
related  to  corruption  in  IMS  (based  on  a  specific  IMS  structured  field  about  the  type  of  violation);  (ii)  concerning  the 
cohesion policy (meaning CF, ERDF and ESF); (iii) under the programming periods 2007-2013 and 2014-2020.  

Just 20 cases have been assessed as relevant for the analysis. This number of reported cases is excessively low, bearing in 
mind  the  time-span  covered  by  this  analysis,  the  amount  of  expenditure  of  reference  (about  EUR  680  billion)  and 
information for other sources. 

About 20% of  these  cases  of  corruption  followed  a  control  started  because  of  tips  from  informants  or  information 
published  in  the  media.  About  25%  of  the  irregularities  were  instead  detected  because  of  a  control  that  started  in  the 
absence of specific allegations or suspicions. This means that the detection of the corruptive behaviour was due to chance or 
similar,  rather  than  to  risk  analysis.  Actually,  detecting  a  hidden  phenomenon  like  corruption  through  risk  analysis  is  a 
challenging task. 

The  relevant  irregularities  reported  by  the  Member  States  were  mostly  about  bribery,  with  financial  benefits 
received  or  promised  to  the  public  officials  involved.  In  one  case,  the  system  included  consultancy  contracts  with  a 
colluded company of professionals. In another case, the bribe was to be paid through the invoicing of fictitious services from 
companies  related  to  the briber to  the  company  that  was  promised  the  award of  the  contract  during  a public procurement 
procedure.  

Most  of  the  reported  irregularities  concerned  corruption  in  public  procurement  procedures.  This  means  that  the  public 
officials  involved  were  on  the  side  of  the  beneficiary,  acting  as  contracting  authority.  Sometimes  corruption  concerned 
simplified or restricted public procurement procedures, where the contracting authority has more leeway in influencing 
who  will  participate  in  the  procedure.  This  may  facilitate  bid-rigging  or  result  in  single  bidding.  Sometimes  corruption 
concerned  open  public  procurement  procedures.  In  these  cases,  public  officials  mostly  favoured  the  briber  in  the 
pre-tendering  phase,  but  also  the  evaluation  of  bids  happened  to  be  affected  by  corruption.  High  public  officials 
(managers) were also targeted by bribers. Managers played key roles, either because they had the overview of the upcoming 
and ongoing public procurement procedures or because they were the intermediary between the winning contractors and the 
evaluation  committees.  External  experts  may  also  be  involved  in  corruption  in  relation  to  the  public  procurement 
procedures  they  manage  for  the  contracting  authority.  They  can  also  make  use  of  their  links  with  other  companies  for 
bid-rigging or for the payment of the bribe. 

Available  data  does  not  allow  identifying  a  ‘most  affected  by  corruption’  sector.  However,  there  is  some  confirmation 
about  the  vulnerability  of  sectors  mentioned  in  other  studies.  Considering  the  limited  number  of  cases,  corruption 
touched  upon  a  wide  range  of  sectors.  These  sectors  include  education  infrastructure,  Research  and  Technology 
Development (RTD), transport, waste management and waste water management. 

4.5.  Risk analysis and spontaneous reporting 

In  the  antifraud  cycle,  the  capacity  of  a  system  to  detect  fraud  and  irregularities  is  a  key 
feature that helps making the system effective and efficient in protecting the EU budget.  In 
the  2017  PIF  Report,  to  boost  the  capability  to  detect  irregularities,  the  Commission 
recommended  to  the  Member  States  to  improve  risk  analysis  and  the  use  of  spontaneous 
reporting  of  potential  irregularities  and  to  strengthen  the  protection  of  whistle-blowers  that 
are also a crucial source for investigative journalism43. 

Risk  analysis  still  only  marginally  contributes  to  detecting  fraud,  while  information 
from  civil  society  plays  a  larger  role.  The  percentage  of  fraudulent  irregularities  detected 
following risk analysis during the past 5 years was still very low, with no improvement from 
the  previous  period  2015-2019.  The  situation  is  different  for  tips  from  informants, 
whistle-blowers  and  information  published  in  the  media  (civil  society).  During  the  past 
5 years, about 18% of the irregularities have been detected following information from civil 

43 Section 4.3 of the ‘29th Annual Report on the Protection of the EU’s financial interests – Fight against fraud 
–  2017’,  COM(2018)553  final  and  ‘Statistical  evaluation  of  irregularities  reported  for  2017:  own  resources, 
agriculture, cohesion and fisheries policies, pre-accession and direct expenditure’, SWD(2018)386 final.  

45 

 
 
COHESION AND FISHERIES 

society,  with  an  increase  with  respect  to  the  previous  5  years.  On  non-fraudulent 
irregularities, neither risk analysis nor information from civil society play a noticeable 
role in detection yet. 

The  low  share  of  irregularities  detected  following  risk  analysis  suggests  room  for 
improvement in this domain. It is true that risk analysis might have had a more important 
role in detecting irregularities before expenditure is introduced in a request for reimbursement 
to the Commission. These detections, where referring to non-fraudulent irregularities, do not 
have  to  be  reported  in  IMS.  However,  this  is  valid  only  for  non-fraudulent  irregularities. 
Fraudulent  irregularities  must  always  be  reported  in  IMS  (where  above  the  EUR 10 000 
threshold).  Detection  of  fraud  and  irregularities  could  improve  by  adding  to  existing 
preventive  management  verifications  and  audits  of  operations  also  ex post  thematic  risk 
analysis  projects  focusing  on  groups  of  past  transactions,  with  a  view  to  carrying  out 
targeted ex post controls.  

During  the  programming  period  2021-2027,  management  verifications  are  risk-based 
and  proportionate  to  the  risks  identified.  Until  PP  2014-2020  included,  administrative 
verifications  covered  instead  100%  of  the  payment  applications  for  reimbursement  by 
beneficiaries.  In  this  new  context,  it  is  even  more  important  that  the  new  approach  to 
management verifications includes an adequate policy about ex post checks.  

National  anti-fraud  strategies  should  consider  strengthening  the  national  anti-fraud 
landscape through the systematic involvement of bodies that are (i) external to management 
and  control  system  specific  to  the  use  of  EU  funds  and  (ii)  endowed  with  the  necessary 
powers, information and resources.  

4.6.  Duration of irregularities 

With  regard  to  PP  2014-2020,  it  took  on  average  nearly  2  years  from  the  start  of  the 
irregularity  to  a  suspicion  that  a  fraudulent  irregularity  had  been  committed  (see 
Graph CP4).  For  non-fraudulent  irregularities,  this  duration  was  similar  (see  Graph CP5), 
which would not be expected, as fraudsters may go to great lenghts to hide their behaviour. 
On  average,  it  took  nearly  2  years  and  a  half  to  close  the  case  after  reporting  to  the 
Commission  (see  Graph CP4).  This  average  duration  is  shorter  for  non-fraudulent 
irregularities. The longer delay in closing fraudulent cases is consistent with the need to rely 
on specialised, more limited resources to investigate fraud and the longer duration of criminal 
proceedings.  

46 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
COHESION AND FISHERIES 

Graph CP4: Average times from irregularity to case closure – Cohesion and Fisheries policies – PP 2014-2020 
– irregularities reported as fraudulent 

Graph CP5: Average times from irregularity to case closure – Cohesion and Fisheries policies – PP 2014-2020 
– irregularities not reported as fraudulent 

4.7.  Detection and reporting by Member State 

Table CP6 below shows data on fraud detection in the Member States for PP 2014-2020, in 
terms  of  number  of  reported  irregularities.  It  is  too  early  for  a  similar  analysis  related  to 
PP 2021-2027.  

47 

0.010.020.030.040.050.060.070.0Reporting to case closureDetection to reportingSuspicion to detectionIrregularity to suspicionAvg. duration in months23 months4 months9 monthsNumber of irregularities at the basis of these averagetimes From irregularityto suspicion: 1 221From suspicionto detection: 1 203From detection to reporting: 1 236From reporting to case closure: 10829 months0.010.020.030.040.050.060.0Reporting to case closureDetection to reportingSuspicion to detectionIrregularity to suspicionAvg. duration in months21 months26 months3 months7 monthsNumber of irregularities at the basis of these averagetimes From irregularityto suspicion: 13 438From suspicionto detection: 13 401From detection to reporting: 13 651From reporting to case closure:4 764 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
COHESION AND FISHERIES 

Table  CP6:  Number  of  fraudulent  irregularities  by  Member  State  –  Cohesion  and  Fisheries  policies  – 
Programming period 2014-2020 

Table CP7 below shows the financial amounts (EU-share) involved in these irregularities and 
the fraud detection rates (the ratio between these amounts and the payments received by the 
Member  States  -  FDR).  For  EU27,  the  FDR  is  0.22%,  which  is  lower  than  the  FDR 
recorded for the PP 2007-2013.44 However, these two FDRs cannot be directly compared. 

44  Considering  data  until  2021  included,  the  FDR  related  to  PP  2007-2013  was  0.42%  (Section  4.5.3  of 
‘Statistical  evaluation  of  irregularities  reported  for  2021:  own  resources,  agriculture,  cohesion  and  fisheries 
policies, pre-accession and direct expenditure’, SWD(2022)307 final) 

48 

CFERDFESFEMFFCF, ERDF, ESF, EMFFNNNNNAT02406BE0510015BG0520025CY04004CZ2841200206DE02655081DK04004EE22521039ES (2)03104FI00000FR0184123GR35109HR1120013HU1188120201IE00000IT0100010LT057315LU00000LV5566471MT11002NL00101PL764783152PT13237373RO261304712215SE014510SI695020SK184117076TOTAL EU2773730431411,275UK (1)039012(1) As of 1 February 2020, the UK is no longer part of the EUMember StateIrregularities reported as fraudulent PP 2014-20(2) For the ERDF, Spain has a reporting backlog, which has not been solved yet. 
 
 
COHESION AND FISHERIES 

While PP 2007-2013 has already gone through the whole implementation cycle, the financial 
amounts involved in fraudulent irregularities for PP 2014-2020 may increase, while most of 
payments  for  PP  2014-2020  have  already  been  made.  The  highest  FDRs  were  recorded  by 
Romania (about 1.36%) and Slovakia (about 1.1%). The FDR exceeded 0.1% only in Austria, 
Czechia,  Estonia,  Croatia,  Hungary,  Latvia,  Portugal  and  Slovenia.  In  the  other  Member 
States, the FDR was still close to zero. 

Table  CP7:  Financial  amounts  (EU-share)  involved  in  fraudulent  irregularities  and  fraud  detection  rate  by 
Member State – Cohesion and Fisheries policies – Programming period 2014-2020 

Tables CP8  and  CP9  below  show  data  on  detection  of  non-fraudulent  irregularities  in  the 
Member  States  for  PP 2014-2020.  For  EU27,  the  Irregularity  Detection  Rate  (IDR)  is 
0.76%, which is much lower than the IDR recorded for the PP 2007-2013 (2.5%). This is 
not  surprising,  given  to  the  striking  drop  in  the  number  of  non-fraudulent  irregularities 
reported by the Member States. Slovakia recorded the highest IDRs, at 3.4%. In line with the 
general  significant  decrease  in  non-fraudulent  irregularities  reported,  the  IDR  is  above  1% 
only  in  Bulgaria,  Estonia,  Greece  and  Romania.  It  is  between  0.5%  and  1%  in  Austria, 
Croatia, Czechia, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia and Poland. In all other Member States, IDR is 
below 0.5%.   

49 

CFERDFESFEMFFEUREUREUREUREUREU payments (1)FDR %AT02,392,31988,43202,480,7511,256,202,7230.20BE0112,556320,4120432,9682,195,230,7750.02BG0350,034990,88201,340,9167,850,781,2910.02CY0414,86000414,860884,394,0230.05CZ9,856,10742,273,4066,306,638058,436,15122,677,889,8550.26DE04,101,6106,411,817010,513,42720,626,333,3350.05DK0245,65500245,655832,837,8500.03EE610,9905,751,22774,970493,5896,930,7763,799,288,3970.18ES (3)0100,71446,4550147,16941,627,374,8980.00FI000001,552,698,4570.00FR010,799,506222,09556,25011,077,85117,805,435,0640.06GR6,117,703753,69941,40006,912,80218,219,571,7540.04HR9,910,9514,462,4720014,373,4239,073,045,5700.16HU1,288,80847,587,6511,361,684050,238,14322,399,356,4900.22IE000001,170,226,3070.00IT04,330,557004,330,55743,283,700,7550.01LT03,784,500471,90498,6184,355,0227,029,259,2060.06LU00000179,046,2570.00LV1,654,04829,845,510545,166654,87932,699,6034,721,225,3280.69MT214,69560,14900274,844838,701,1370.03NL00208,5750208,5751,670,279,8660.01PL4,176,63440,778,33914,124,970709,81859,789,76178,731,288,9060.08PT192,54978,955,4619,672,620490,57489,311,20423,458,738,6460.38RO196,014,849117,937,3669,063,6701,617,417324,633,30223,862,691,4471.36SE021,659437,134816,2231,275,0161,985,175,5400.06SI756,7312,212,498704,90503,674,1343,338,781,3980.11SK85,168,33362,603,4476,290,9250154,062,70514,055,007,3951.10EU27315,962,398459,875,19557,384,6544,937,368838,159,615384,380,263,8460.22UK (2)0512,7451,811,02802,323,77310,695,864,0010.02CF, ERDF, ESF, EMFF(1) Net payments until 2024 from CF, ERDF, ESF, EMFF. Total includes payments related to cross border cooperation(2) As of 1 February 2020, the UK is no longer part of the EUMember StateFinancial amounts (EU-share) involved in Irregularities reported as fraudulent PP 2014-2020(3) For the ERDF, Spain has a reporting backlog, which has not been solved yet. 
 
 
COHESION AND FISHERIES 

Table  CP8:  Number  of  irregularities  not  reported  as  fraudulent  by  Member  State  –  Cohesion  and  Fisheries 
policies – Programming period 2014-2020 

50 

CFERDFESFEMFFCF, ERDF, ESF, EMFFNNNNNAT0110191130BE071370108BG934226244621CY966324CZ186928240201,374DE043716310610DK0992139EE171363297570ES (2)026418046490FI04316867FR032812527480GR322361438419HR257411226237HU45776246111,078IE01845063IT05151331649LT110463334610LU01001LV19981710144MT2156427NL1714379PL1812,4701,119183,788PT221979969387RO153590473531,269SE037322190SI74619072SK1244321027665TOTAL EU271,1809,0203,46942214,091UK (1)0820649101,479(2) For the ERDF, Spain has a significant reporting backlog, which has not been solved yet.(1) As of 1 February 2020, the UK is no longer part of the EUMember StateIrregularities  not reported as fraudulent PP 2014-20 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
COHESION AND FISHERIES 

Table CP9: Financial amounts (EU-share) involved in irregularities not reported as fraudulent and irregularity 
detection rate by Member State – Cohesion and Fisheries policies – Programming period 2014-2020 

4.8. 

Follow-up to suspected fraud 

The  Member  States  may  report  irregularities  as  non-fraudulent  (just  administrative 
irregularities)  or  as  fraudulent  (suspected  or  established  fraud)  and  they  may  change  this 
classification  during  the  lifetime  of  the  irregularities.  The  following  analysis  provides 
intelligence on how the Member States followed-up suspected fraud they detected during the 
period  2014-2024.45  The  irregularities  that  have  been  cancelled  are  excluded  from  this 
analysis. 

For 7% of the irregularities reported during 2014-2024, there is or has been a suspicion of 
fraud.  This  percentage  does  not  significantly  change  across  the  timespan  considered  in  the 

45 To include an irregularity in this analysis, the relevant year is the year to which the Member State allocate the 
irregularity in IMS (reporting year). Changes to the classification of the irregularities until 8/3/2025 (date of the 
download of IMS data for this analysis) are considered.  

51 

CFERDFESFEMFFEUREUREUREUREUREU payments (1)IDR %AT011,058,059844,52481,94311,984,5261,256,202,7230.95BE04,980,1112,676,30107,656,4122,195,230,7750.35BG98,358,54964,527,6094,196,7174,245,126171,328,0017,850,781,2912.18CY1,655,265407,308351,439243,8572,657,869884,394,0230.30CZ51,205,119103,095,4138,886,2571,295,978164,482,76722,677,889,8550.73DE058,093,25011,444,110704,82170,242,18120,626,333,3350.34DK0406,304632,0291,018,2052,056,538832,837,8500.25EE25,529,47127,291,8652,842,919268,83155,933,0863,799,288,3971.47ES (3)063,288,48449,332,8003,432,569116,053,85341,627,374,8980.28FI02,604,534344,685310,0263,259,2451,552,698,4570.21FR042,479,09211,008,1633,311,81956,799,07417,805,435,0640.32GR26,203,24873,983,479159,517,311567,696260,271,73418,219,571,7541.43HR10,622,53014,702,08023,034,6242,321,22650,680,4609,073,045,5700.56HU18,189,124115,603,49332,735,1651,625,318168,153,10022,399,356,4900.75IE0515,9112,802,94603,318,8571,170,226,3070.28IT0100,082,74216,417,76738,136116,538,64543,283,700,7550.27LT16,163,22941,439,0122,175,16379,34059,856,7447,029,259,2060.85LU014,2590014,259179,046,2570.01LV6,958,58019,966,737822,671766,66428,514,6524,721,225,3280.60MT913,5181,219,592592,66796,7102,822,487838,701,1370.34NL42,2754,258,614199,16440,4264,540,4791,670,279,8660.27PL29,548,774476,172,37098,912,9501,439,160606,073,25478,731,288,9060.77PT2,346,72424,624,0946,613,4495,399,18238,983,44923,458,738,6460.17RO159,343,505213,318,52631,369,3087,383,766411,415,10523,862,691,4471.72SE01,317,2761,321,3152,353,9944,992,5851,985,175,5400.25SI1,954,8076,344,4871,218,21709,517,5113,338,781,3980.29SK238,865,933204,758,01731,418,0201,141,465476,183,43514,055,007,3953.39TOTAL EU27687,900,6511,676,552,718501,710,68138,166,2582,904,330,308384,380,263,8460.76UK (2)027,034,74027,537,5111,121,13455,693,38510,695,864,0010.52(3) For the ERDF, Spain has a significant reporting backlog, which has not been solved yet.(2) As of 1 February 2020, the UK is no longer part of the EUMember StateCF, ERDF, ESF, EMFFIrregularities  not reported as fraudulent PP 2014-20(1) Net payments until 2024 from CF, ERDF, ESF, EMFF. Total includes payments related to cross border cooperation 
 
 
 
 
COHESION AND FISHERIES 

analysis  (irregularities  are  associated  to  the  year  of  first  reporting).  For  about  15%  of  the 
irregularities where there is or has been a suspicion of fraud, this suspicion was not initially 
detected  or  reported  and  the  Member  State  reclassified  the  irregularity  as  fraudulent  at  a 
later stage. 

For  15%  of  the  irregularities  with  a  suspicion  of  fraud,  the  suspicion  was  then 
confirmed  as  established  fraud  (see  Graph CP6  below).  There  is  no  pattern  pointing  to 
higher percentages of established fraud for years that are further in the past. 

For 17% of the irregularities with a suspicion of fraud, the suspicion was then dismissed 
and  the  irregularities  are  considered  just  administrative  (see  Graph CP6  below).  The 
dismissal  ratio  was  higher  during  2014-2017  than  during  the  following  years.  For  the 
irregularities  that  had  been  initially  reported  during  2014-2017,  the  percentage  of  dismissal 
ranged between 18% and 34%. During 2021-2024, the percentage of dismissal ranged instead 
between 3% and 9%. 

Most  of  the  irregularities  where  there  was  a  suspicion  of  fraud  are  still  classified  as 
suspected  fraud,  even  if  several  years  have  elapsed  since  the  initial  reporting  (see 
Graph CP6 below). Considering the whole period 2014-2024, about 68% of the irregularities 
where fraud was alleged are still classified as suspected fraud. This percentage changes year 
on year, but is very high also for years that are further in the past. For 2015, this percentage is 
still 69%.  

Graph  CP6:  Cohesion  and  Fisheries  policies:  percentage  of  dismissals,  pending  suspected  fraud  and 
established fraud per year of reporting 

52 

 
 
COHESION AND FISHERIES 

Focusing  on  the  irregularities  that  were  initially  reported  during  2014-2018,  significant 
differences  between  Member  States  can  be  found  (see  Table CP10  below).  Focusing  on 
this period means focusing on irregularities that have been reported between 6 and 11 years 
ago.  In  the  Member  States  with  low  incidence  of  fraud,  the  competent  authorities  should 
invest  in  detecting  signals  of  fraud  and,  when  discovering  irregularities,  should  carefully 
address the question of intentionality. Low incidence of fraud could also be due to reporting 
practices  delaying  classification  as  suspected  fraud.  Considering  that  the  most  recent 
irregularities in this analysis have been reported 6 years ago, these reporting practices should 
be reviewed or engagement with the judicial authorities should be improved. 

Table CP10: Cohesion and Fisheries policies (programming periods 2007-2013 and 2014-2020) – Follow-up to 
suspected fraud by Member State – Irregularities reported during 2014-2018 (1) 

In  many  Member  States,  the  percentage  of  irregularities  still  classified  as  suspected 
fraud is high. This may suggest that the judicial authorities do not give proper follow-up to 
these suspicions, including because they may not have sufficient resources. Alternatively, it 
could  be  that  there  are  no  proper  communication  channels  from  judicial  to  reporting 
authorities. This high percentage of irregularities still classified as suspected fraud could also 
be due to persistent suspicions of the reporting authorities, while criminal proceedings were 
not  started, were prevented by the statute of limitations or did  not  lead  to  enough evidence 
about fraud.  

53 

Pending suspected fraudN.ratioN.%N.%N.%AT00.000%1%133%00%267%BE00.000%2%00%00%6100%BG00.000%2%650%217%433%CY00.000%9%00%120%480%CZ450.0230%7%4026%6140%5033%DE80.015%14%5839%3121%6040%DK30.1043%19%343%114%343%EE30.0213%12%00%1042%1458%ES1020.0174%1%2518%00%11282%FI00.000%6%125%00%375%FR00.000%3%00%00%12100%GR90.0118%3%714%12%4384%HR00.000%6%00%125%375%HU10.001%8%2317%00%11183%IE00.00NANA0NA0NA0NAIT230.0248%4%1531%510%2858%LT30.0138%3%113%563%225%LU0NANANA0NA0NA0NALV50.0113%10%924%1334%1642%MT00.000%3%00%00%2100%NL30.0119%5%319%744%638%PL470.0115%9%8226%4815%18859%PT10.002%5%00%00%48100%RO110.016%10%6734%74%12563%SE00.000%5%120%00%480%SI00.000%11%741%318%741%SK150.0111%11%1814%2922%8564%EU-272790.0118%5%36724%22515%93861%(1) The irregularities that were reported and then cancelled are not included in this analysis(4) Percentage of irregularities that, at any moment in their lifetime, were classified as fraudulent over the total number of irregularities reportedMember StateReclassification (2)Incidence of riclassification (3)Incidence of fraud (4)DismissalEstablished fraud(2) Number of irregularities that, at any moment in their lifetime, have been reclassified from administrative to fraudulent over the number of administrative irregularities that have never been reclassified. (3) Percentage of irregularities that have been reclassified from administrative to fraudulent over the total number of fraudulent irregularities (including the reclassified and the ones that have been classified as fraudulent since the beginning)  
 
COHESION AND FISHERIES 

4.9.  Other internal policies 

Other  funds  are  used  under  shared  management  to  finance  other  internal  policies. 
Tables CP11 and CP12 show the number of and financial amounts involved in fraudulent and 
non-fraudulent irregularities concerning AMIF, FEAD, EGF, JTF, ISF, BMVI and YEI.  

Table CP11: Number of irregularities and financial amounts (EU-share) reported as fraudulent by the Member 
States – AMIF, FEAD, EGF, JTF, ISF, BMWI and YEI 

Table  CP12:  Number  of  irregularities  and  financial  amounts  (EU-share)  not  reported  as  fraudulent  by  the 
Member States – AMIF, FEAD, EGF, JTF, ISF, BMWI and YEI 

More than half of the irregularities reported as fraudulent concerned YEI, but most of 
the  financial  amounts  involved  in  fraud  concerned  FEAD.  All  of  the  irregularities 
reported as fraudulent concerned PP 2014-2020. During 2023, an outstanding number of YEI 
irregularities were reported as fraudulent. These irregularities were all reported by Czechia. 
The  financial  amounts 
low 
(‘below-threshold’), but Czechia reported them, because they are interlinked and this brings 
the  total  financial  amounts  above  the  threshold.  In  relation  to  FEAD,  financial  amounts 
(EU-share) involved in  irregularities  reported as  fraudulent tend to  be high and represented 
nearly 95% of the total financial amounts involved in fraud under these internal policies (see 
Table CP12). The average financial amounts of these cases was more than EUR 700 000 and 
this was not due just to one case; 6 out of 11 cases ranged between about EUR 850 000 and 
EUR 1.8 million. 

irregularities  were  very 

in  each  of 

involved 

these 

About  65%  of  the  detections  of  non-fraudulent  irregularities  were  related  to  AMIF  and  
FEAD.  The  number  of  AMIF  irregularities  peaked  in  2020.  The  reporting  of  FEAD 
irregularities peaked in 2021 and gradually decreased during the following years, with 
higher financial amounts (EU-share) involved than in the AMIF (see Table CP12). YEI was 
the  fund  with  the  highest  financial  amounts  (EU-share)  involved  in  non-fraudulent 
irregularities. About half of the financial amounts involved in non-fraudulent irregularities 
(in  these  internal  policies)  were  actually  related  to  YEI.  During  2024,  the  Member  States 
reported  the  first  irregularities  related  to  PP  2021-2027  (see  JTF,  BMVI  and  one  of  the  18 
irregularities concerning AMIF). 

54 

NEURNEURNEURNEURNEURNEURAMIF00142,455002120,14900198,086FEAD67,867,065248,1600000315,80800ISF0000000000188,007YEI5116,3290000001422,82200EU27117,983,394390,615002120,1491738,6302186,093REPORTING YEARFUND2017-201920202021202220232024NEURNEURNEURNEURNEURNEURAMIF422,225,390321,069,7196183,76113437,037251,54918608,873FEAD222,948,727141,269,110261,927,324193,201,108167,813,2298711,562EGF00147,12400000000JTF0000000000262,574ISF5820,830381,1828462,535288,3772100,2106402,627BMVI0000000000139,728YEI206,946,9966421,88071,748,415119,8991814,833,16551,873,084EU278912,941,943562,889,015474,322,035353,746,4213822,798,153403,698,448UK (1)362,0604181,2223175,285FUND2016-201920202021202220232024REPORTING YEAR(1) As of 1 February 2020, the UK is no longer part of the EU. Irregularites reported in this Table with reference to UK concern AMIF (PP 2014-2020).  
 
 
PRE-ACCESSION 

5.  PRE-ACCESSION POLICY  

5.1. 

Introduction 

Section  5  presents  a  statistical  evaluation  of  irregularities  and  fraud  reported  by  the 
beneficiary countries during 2024 with reference to the pre-accession policy. It places these 
detections in the context of past years and relevant programming periods. 

The  beneficiary  countries  must  report  fraudulent  and  non-fraudulent  irregularities  to  the 
Commission through the Irregularity Management System (IMS). When reference is made 
to fraud or fraudulent, this includes both suspected and established fraud.46 Differently from 
the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and the Cohesion and Fisheries policies, there are no 
exceptions to reporting in IMS. Irregularities must always be reported in IMS, (i) also when 
they are detected and corrected before the expenditure is introduced in a statement submitted 
to  the  Commission;  (ii)  also  when  the  financial  amounts  are  below  EUR 10 000. In  this 
document,  when  reference  is  made  to  the  financial  amounts  involved  in  irregularities,  it  is 
always the EU-share of these financial amounts, unless specified otherwise. 

Before  2007,  the  EU  has  been  providing  pre-accession  assistance  through  a  number  of 
separate  instruments  (see  Section  5.2.1).  As  from  2007,  the  EU  provides  pre-accession 
assistance through the Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance (IPA). IPA aims to support 
candidate  countries  and  potential  candidates  for  EU  membership  in  meeting  the  accession 
criteria and to bring their institutions and standards in line with the EU acquis. For the period 
2007-2013,  IPA  had  a  budget  of  EUR 11.5 billion.  Its  successor,  IPA II,  was  allocated 
EUR 12.8 billion for the period 2014-2020. For the multiannual financial framework period 
2021-2027, the IPA III budgetary envelope is EUR 14.2 billion. The current beneficiaries are: 
Albania,  Bosnia  and  Herzegovina,  Kosovo47,  Montenegro,  North  Macedonia,  Serbia,  and 
Türkiye. Assistance is also provided through multi-country/regional programmes.48  

5.2. 

Instruments for Pre-accession Assistance  

5.2.1.  Before 2007: pre-accession Assistance (PAA)  

Before  2007,  the  EU  has  been  providing  pre-accession  assistance  to  candidate  countries 
through  a  number  of  separate  instruments.  The  PHARE  programme  provided  support  for 
institution-building  measures  and  associated  investment,  as  well  as  funding  measures  to 
promote economic and social cohesion and cross border cooperation. The ISPA programme 
dealt  with  large-scale  environmental  and  transport  infrastructure  projects,  while  the 
SAPARD  programme  supported  agricultural  and  rural  development.  For  the  programme 
years  2002-2006,  Türkiye  received  assistance  under  the  specific  pre-accession-oriented 
framework  of  the  Pre-accession  Financial  Assistance  for  Türkiye  (TIPAA).  The  CARDS 
programme  was  the  main  financial  instrument  to  promote  stability  in  the  Western  Balkans 
and facilitate the region’s closer association with the EU. The countries that joined the EU in 

46  ‘Suspected  fraud’  means  an  irregularity  that  gives  rise  to  the  initiation  of  administrative  or  judicial 
proceedings at national level in order to establish the presence of intentional behaviour, in particular fraud, as 
referred to in Article 1(1)(a) of the Convention drawn up on the basis of Article K.3 of the Treaty on European 
Union, on the protection of the European Communities’ financial interests. If a guilty verdict is issued and is not 
appealed against, the case can be considered ‘established fraud’. 
47 This designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UNSCR 1244/1999 and the ICJ 
Opinion on the Kosovo declaration of independence.  
48 https://ec.europa.eu/neighbourhood-enlargement/instruments/overview_en 

55 

 
 
PRE-ACCESSION 

2004 49  received  a  Transition  Facility  (TF)  in  2004-2006,  as  did  Bulgaria  and  Romania  in 
2007-2010. All pre-2007 programmes and projects have been completed. 

5.2.2.  2007-2013: The Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance (IPA I) 

For the period 2007-2013, the EU supported reforms in the ‘enlargement countries’ (i.e., the 
candidate  countries  Albania,  Montenegro,  North  Macedonia,  Serbia,  and  Türkiye  and 
potential candidates Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo), providing financial and technical 
help via IPA I. 50  

IPA I consisted of 5 components: (i) transition assistance and institution building (TAIB); (ii) 
cross  border  cooperation  (CBC);  (iii) regional  development  (transport,  environment  and 
economic  development)  (REGD);  (iv)  human  resource  development  (strengthening  human 
capital  and  combatting  exclusion)  (HRD);  and  (v)  rural  development  (IPARD).  Candidate 
countries were eligible for all  5 components; potential candidates were eligible only for the 
first two. 

5.2.3.  2014 – 2020: The Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance (IPA II)  

For  the  period  2014-2020,  IPA II  built  on  the  results  achieved  under  IPA I  and  set  a  new 
framework for providing pre-accession assistance. The primary innovation of IPA II was its 
strategic focus on specific objectives.51  

The IPA II Regulation limits financial assistance to 5 policy areas: (i) reforms in preparation 
for EU membership and related institution- and capacity-building; (ii) socio-economic and 
regional  development;  (iii)  employment,  social  policies,  education,  promotion  of  gender 
equality, and human resources development; (iv) agriculture and rural development; and 
(v) regional and territorial cooperation.52 

The  bulk  of  IPA II  assistance  is  channelled  through  the  country  action  programmes. 
Additionally,  IPA II  funded  multi-country  action  programmes 
to  enhance  regional 
cooperation,  particularly  in  the  Western  Balkans.  Financial  assistance  is  also  provided  via 
cross  border  cooperation  programmes  to  encourage  territorial  cooperation  between  IPA II 
beneficiaries and via rural development programmes for the development of rural areas. 

In  accordance  with  the  Financial  Regulation,  IPA II-funded  activities  are  managed  either 
directly (meaning that the Commission implements them directly until the relevant national 
authorities are accredited to  manage the funds) or indirectly (meaning  that the Commission 
delegates the management of certain actions to external entities, while still retaining overall 
final responsibility for the general budget execution). Cross border cooperation programmes 
with Member States are administered via shared management, meaning that implementation 
tasks are delegated to the Member States. A few cross border programmes between candidate 
countries  are  managed  in  indirect  or  direct  management,  but  the  amounts  involved  are  not 
high. 

49 Cyprus, Czechia, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia. 
50 See Council Regulation (EC) 1085/2006 of 17 July 2006, OJ L 210, 31.7.2006, p. 82-93. 
51 See Regulation (EU) 231/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 2014 establishing 
an Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance (IPA II), OJ L 77, 15.3.2014, p. 11–26 and  
https://ec.europa.eu/neighbourhood-enlargement/instruments/overview_en.  
52 Article 3, paragraph 1, of Regulation (EU) No 231/2014 of the European Parliament and the Council of 11 
March 2014 establishing an Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance (IPA II) 

56 

 
 
PRE-ACCESSION 

5.2.4.  2021 – 2027: The Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance (IPA III)  

The  general  objective  of  the  IPA III  instrument  is  to  support  the  beneficiaries  in  adopting 
and  implementing  the  political,  institutional,  legal,  administrative,  social  and  economic 
reforms  required  by  those  beneficiaries  to  comply  with  Union  values  and  to  progressively 
align to Union rules, standards, policies and practices with a view to Union membership. 
The  IPA III  Programming  Framework53  represents  the  overarching  European  Commission's 
strategic document for the use of EU funds assisting the IPA III beneficiaries. This document 
identifies  5  thematic  windows,  which  mirror  the  clusters  of  negotiating  chapters  as  per  the 
revised enlargement methodology:54 

•  Window 1: Rule of law, fundamental rights and democracy; 
•  Window  2:  Good  governance,  EU  acquis  alignment,  good  neighbourly  relations  and 

strategic communication; 

•  Window 3: Green agenda and sustainable connectivity; 
•  Window 4: Competitiveness and inclusive growth; 
•  Window 5: Territorial and cross border cooperation. 

5.3.  General trend 

Table PA1  below  (and  related  graph)  shows  all  fraudulent  and  non-fraudulent  irregularities 
reported  by  the  beneficiary  countries  during  the  period  2020-2024  under  pre-accession 
programmes.55  These  irregularities  occurred  in  connection  with  funds  distributed  under  the 
2000-2006  PAA  (to  a  limited  extent56)  and  under  IPA I  and  IPA II.57  There  were  also  the 
first  4  irregularities  under  IPA III,  reported  by  Montenegro  in  202358,  by  Serbia59  and 
Türkiye60 in 2024. 

For  half  of  these 
involved  were  below 
irregularities,  the  financial  amounts 
EUR 10 000.61 This percentage is higher for non-fraudulent irregularities (about 52%) than 

53  Commission  Implementing  decision  of  10/12/2021  adopting  the  Instrument  for  Pre-Accession  Assistance 
(IPA III) Programming Framework for the period 2021-2027. 
54 https://ec.europa.eu/neighbourhood-enlargement/instruments/overview_en   
55 Data for this analysis have been download from IMS on 8/3/2025.   
56  Just  5  non-fraudulent  irregularities  (with  about  EUR  0.6  million  involved)  that  concerned  TIPAA 
(4 irregularities) and PHARE (1 irregularity). 
57  To  provide  the  complete  picture,  20  additional  irregularities  (with  about  EUR 1 million  involved)  must  be 
mentioned, which concern cross-border cooperation under the  European Neighbourhood Instrument. These 
irregularities  were  reported  by  Romania  (8  fraudulent  irregularities  in  2020  (1),  2023 (4)  and  2024  (3)  and  1 
non-fraudulent  irregularity  in  2024),  Poland  (9  non-fraudulent  in  2023 (4)  and  2024  (5))  and  Estonia 
(2 non-fraudulent irregularities in 2021 (1) and 2022 (1)). These irregularities are not included in the following 
analysis, as they do not relate to pre-accession. As part of EU policy towards its neighbours, this cross-border 
cooperation  supports  sustainable  development  along  the  EU’s  external  borders,  helps  reduce  differences  in 
living standards and addresses common challenges across these borders.  
58  One  non-fraudulent  irregularity  related  to  window  3  ‘green  agenda  and  sustainable  connectivity’,  with  no 
financial amounts reported. 
59  Two  fraudulent  irregularities  related  to  window  4  ‘competitiveness  and  inclusive  growth’,  with  about 
EUR 1.3 million involved. 
60 One non-fraudulent irregularity with less than EUR 10 000 involved (no window specified). 
61  Considering  irregularities  where  the  financial  amounts  were  below  EUR 10 000  and  where  the  financial 
amounts  were  still  zero  and  the  irregularity  was  already  closed.  The  open  irregularities  where  the  financial 
amounts involved were still zero are not included as ‘below EUR 10 000’. This definition of ‘below-10 000’ is 

57 

 
 
PRE-ACCESSION 

for  fraudulent  irregularities  (about  16%).   However,  the  financial  amounts  involved  in 
these  ‘below-10 000’  irregularities  represented  less  than  2%  of  the  financial  amounts 
involved in all pre-accession irregularities reported during 2020-2024.   

From  2021  to  2022,  the  number  of  non-fraudulent  irregularities  experienced  an 
exceptional  increase  and  the  number  remained  at  a  similar  level  during  the  following 
years  (see  Table PA1).  Irregularities  with  financial  amounts  involved  below  EUR 10 000 
significantly  influenced  this  trend  (see  above).  The  increase  in  2022  was  mainly  due  to 
irregularities related to IPA II reported by Türkiye, North Macedonia and Albania. Reporting 
under IPA II is further analysed in the next sections.  

About  7%  of  the  irregularities  were  reported  as  fraudulent.  This  percentage  (the  fraud 
frequency  level  –  FFL)  changed  over  time,  increasing  significantly  in  2020  (15%)  and 
peaking in 2021 at 17%. In 2023, the financial amounts involved in fraudulent irregularities 
jumped  to  about  EUR 19 million,  due  to  one  irregularity  reported  by  Türkiye  concerning 
IPA II, where about EUR 18 million were involved. 

Table PA1 – Pre-accession: reported irregularities – 2020-2024 

consistently applied in this document. If the open irregularities with no financial amounts involved yet were 
included  in  the  calculation,  the  percentage  of  ‘below-10 000’  irregularities  would  increase  to  51%  (53%  for 
non-fraudulent and 24% for fraudulent irregularities).  

58 

NEURNEURNEUR2020153,105,247875,553,3551028,658,6022021201,052,517994,688,2701195,740,7872022101,087,80528310,677,46029311,765,26520231419,494,3532426,275,69425625,770,0472024172,419,48831622,533,09533324,952,583TOTAL7627,159,4101,02749,727,8741,10376,887,284YearIrregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulentTOTAL 
 
 
 
PRE-ACCESSION 

As the irregularities reported during the past 5 years mostly refer to IPA I and IPA II, this is 
separately analysed in the following sections.  

5.4. 

Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA I, 2007-2013) 

5.4.1.  Recent trends 

Table PA2  below  (and  related  graph)  shows  all  fraudulent  and  non-fraudulent  irregularities 
reported  by  the  beneficiary  countries  during  the  past  5  years  under  IPA I. The  number  of 
these  irregularities  and  the  financial  amounts  involved  fell  markedly  in  comparison  to 
previous  years,  as  the  programmes  were  closed  years  ago.  However,  there  was  a  new 
increase in the number of non-fraudulent irregularities reported in 2024, due to the reporting 
from Türkiye of cases related to human resources development (HRD) (see Tables PA3 and 
PA4).  In  2024,  there  was  also  a  strong  increase  in  the  financial  amounts  involved  in 
non-fraudulent  irregularities,  due  to  the  number  of  HRD  irregularities,  but  also  one  TAIB 
irregularity, reported by Türkiye, with more than EUR 2.5 million involved (see Table PA4).    

The  FFL  was  9%  during  the  past  5  years,  although  it  was  higher  in  2020  (13%)  and 
peaked at 25% in 2023, but based on just one fraudulent case.  

Table PA2 – Pre-accession: reported irregularities (IPA I) – 2020-2024 

59 

NEURNEURNEUR202072,736,354463,958,219536,694,5732021283,651322,396,706342,480,3572022005182,4925182,49220231600,6593243,2274843,88720241423314,644,961324,645,384TOTAL113,421,08711711,425,60512814,846,693YearIrregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulentTOTAL 
 
 
PRE-ACCESSION 

Tables PA3 and PA4 below show that the 128 irregularities related to IPA I during the past 5 
years  (i)  concerned  3  components  (the  highest  number  of  cases  and  the  highest  financial 
amounts  concerned  IPARD);  (ii)  were  reported  by  5  countries  (the  leading  contributor  to 
detection was Türkiye, which reported about 80% of irregularities and 75% of the financial 
amounts). 

Table PA3 – Pre-accession: reported irregularities (IPA I) by component – 2020-2024 

Table PA4: Pre-accession: reported irregularities (IPA I) by country – 2020-2024 

5.4.2.  Trends since the start of IPA I, by beneficiary country and component 

Table PA5 below (and related graph) shows the number of irregularities and related financial 
amounts concerning IPA I since 2007, by beneficiary country and component. 
In 37% of these irregularities the financial amounts involved were below EUR 10 000.62 
However,  the  financial  amounts  involved  in  these  ‘below-10 000’  irregularities  represented 
just  1%  of  the  financial  amounts  involved  in  all  pre-accession  irregularities  reported  for 
IPA I.  Concerning  these  ‘below-10 000’  irregularities:  (i)  about  50%  of  them  concerned 
cross-border cooperation programmes (CBC-IPA). The second ranking component, IPARD, 
accounted for 22%; (ii) Bulgaria (32%), Croatia (23%) and Türkiye (24%) reported most of 
the ‘below-10 000’ irregularities.   

Since 2007, 10 beneficiary countries reported 901 irregularities related to 5 components (see 
Table PA5  and  related  graph).  The  highest  number  of  irregularities  concerned  IPARD. 
About 87% of the irregularities related to IPARD were detected by  Türkiye. Only two 
other countries, Croatia and North Macedonia, reported IPARD cases.  

A  broader  range  of  countries  reported  irregularities  concerning  cross-border  cooperation 
programmes  (CBC-IPA),  the  second  most  affected  component  of  IPA I.  This  was 
influenced by the high number of ‘below-10 000’ irregularities (about 85% of the CBC-IPA 
irregularities).  The majority of the CBC-IPA irregularities were reported by  Bulgaria. The 

62  As  already mentioned,  considering  irregularities  where  the  financial  amounts  were  below  EUR  10 000,  but 
excluding open irregularities where the financial amounts were still zero. 

60 

NEURNEURNEUR2020151,346433,926,60292,716,625202100181,644,15816836,199202200181,1394101,353202300004843,8872024301,894,3840022,751,000TOTAL311,945,730625,651,899357,249,064YearHRDIPARDTAIBNEURNEURNEURNEURNEUR20201871,4920061,848,260348,219433,926,602202100163,196666,429214,771252,335,96120220000336,816002145,676202300001600,6591121,9492121,278202400000000324,645,384TOTAL1871,492163,196162,552,1646184,93910411,174,901TRYearALHRMKRS 
 
 
 
PRE-ACCESSION 

only  non-Member  State  that  reported  irregularities  relating  to  CBC-IPA  was  Serbia  (apart 
from one irregularity reported by Türkiye).  

In addition to reporting most of the IPARD irregularities, Türkiye also reported 80% of the 
irregularities  related  to  HRD  programmes  and  62%  of  the  irregularities  related  to  TAIB 
programmes,  respectively  the  third  and  fourth  most  affected  component  of  IPA  I. 
Differently from CBC-IPA, just about 32% of the HRD irregularities  and 17% of the TAIB 
irregularities were ‘below-10 000’. 

Table PA5 – Pre-accession: irregularities reported under IPA I components since 2007 

61 

NEURNEURNEURNEURNEURAL000000003871,492BG114432,49200000000GR4216,57600000000HR51228,97211423,444311,872,5035503,09391,061,787IT3553,93500000000ME002125,871002081,19400MK003267,13915215,03200192,528,767RO4720,83200000000RS21169,326000000161,688,833TR112,5331417,505,49731440,189,395185,968,4247713,352,784TOTAL1982,334,6661768,221,95136042,276,930436,552,71112419,503,663CBC-IPAHRDIPARDREGDTAIB 
 
 
 
PRE-ACCESSION 

5.5. 

Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance II (IPA II 2014-2020) 

5.5.1.  Trends 

Table PA6  below  (and  related  graph)  shows  all  fraudulent  and  non-fraudulent  irregularities 
reported by the beneficiary countries during the period 2020-2024 under IPA II. The number 
of irregularities increased markedly in 2022 and since then it has been fluctuating around 
an  average  of  about  280  irregularities  per  year,  also  because  of  the  high  number  of 
‘below-10 000’ irregularities (see also next section).  

During the past 5 years, the FFL was 6.5%, lower than the FFL for IPA I. However, it was 
very high in 2020-2021 (16% and 21%) and much lower as from 2022, also because of the 
strong  increase  of  non-fraudulent  irregularities,  where  ‘below-10 000’  reporting  was 
sustained.  

Table PA6 – Pre-accession: reported irregularities (IPA II) – 2020-2024 

62 

NEURNEURNEUR20208368,893411,595,135491,964,029202118968,866661,834,664842,803,5302022101,087,80527410,378,17628411,465,98120231318,893,6942386,032,46625124,926,1602024141,146,90228417,882,39729819,029,300TOTAL6322,466,16090337,722,83896660,189,000YearIrregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulentTOTAL 
 
 
PRE-ACCESSION 

Table PA7 below shows that irregularities related to IPA II concerned all policy areas. The 
highest  number  of  cases  and  the  highest  financial  amounts  concerned  agriculture  and 
rural  development.  The  financial  amounts  involved  in  irregularities  related  to  this  policy 
area  increased  significantly,  also  because  of  irregularities  related  to  an  OLAF  investigation 
(see  Box  1  below).  The  same  investigation  is  linked  also  to  7  of  the  19  irregularities  (and 
most of the financial amounts) for which the Member States did not specify the policy area 
(see ‘Not specified’ in Table PA7). 

Box 5.1: Serious misuse of EU pre-accession agricultural funds 
OLAF investigated  serious  allegations  involving  the  misuse  of EU funds  from  IPA  II  for  rural  development 
(IPARD II) in Albania. One allegation was that applicants for these funds were obliged to pay a large percentage 
of their grant to ‘pre-selected’ consultancy companies, which would then facilitate contracts with the Albanian 
Agency for Rural Development and Agriculture (ARDA), which distributed the funds. 
After  a  series  of  complex  investigative  steps,  OLAF uncovered  several  serious  irregularities  during  the 
grant-awarding phase and the implementation of several projects. These irregularities included: 

•  Applicants being requested to pay a sizeable part of their grant to a local consultancy company; 

•  Contracts  being  awarded  without  competition,  or  through  a  rigged  competition  (with  fake  offers  being 

submitted); 

•  Inflated prices and breaches of contractual rules. 

See also ‘The OLAF report 2023’: 

https://ec.europa.eu/olaf-report/2023/investigative-activities/preventing-undue-expenditure_en.html#serious-misuse-of-eu-pre-accession-
agricultural-funds 

The  policy  areas  ‘Regional  and  territorial  cooperation’  and  ‘Institution-  and 
capacity-building’  were  respectively  the  second  and  third  most  affected  by  number  of 
irregularities.  For  ‘Institution-  and  capacity-building’,  this  was  influenced  by  the  high 
percentage of ‘below-10 000’ irregularities (about 70%), which is not the case for ‘Regional 
and territorial cooperation’ (25%). 

‘Socio-economic  and  regional  development’  was  the  policy  area  with  the  second  highest 
financial amounts involved, but this was because of the aforementioned irregularity reported 
by  Türkiye,  where  about  EUR 18 million  are  involved.  Overall,  about  70%  of  irregularities 
are ‘below-10 000’ also in this policy area. 

Table PA7 – Pre-accession: reported irregularities (IPA II) by component – 2020-2024 

Table PA8  below  shows  that  irregularities  related  to  IPA II  were  reported  by  9  countries. 
The  main  contributor  to  detection  was  Türkiye,  which  reported  about  51%  of 
irregularities,  followed  by  Albania  (19%)  and  North  Macedonia  (14%).  Most  of  the 
financial  amounts  were  involved  in  irregularities  reported  by  Türkiye,  also  because  of  the 
aforementioned irregularity where about EUR 18 million were involved. Serbia recorded the 
highest average financial amounts involved in irregularities (about EUR 80 000). 

63 

NEURNEURNEURNEURNEURNEUR20206716,0942020391,247,9350000202111377,93268,99800561,997,76511418,83500202230496,48525225,8921255,0002159,444,026131,044,57900202328880,1511018,044,15614175,8921634,664,296361,161,665002024312,23020211,97013623,90421915,077,401241,664,241191,439,554TOTAL782,482,8926318,491,016301,054,79669232,431,423844,289,320191,439,554Not specifiedPolicy area (1)(1) For the full description of the policy areas, see Section 5.2.3.Regional and territorial cooperationYearInstitution- and capacity-buildingSocio-economic and regional developmentHuman resources developmentAgriculture and rural development 
 
PRE-ACCESSION 

Table PA8 – Pre-accession: reported irregularities (IPA II) by country – 2020-2024 

5.5.2.  Trends since the start of IPA II, by beneficiary country and component 

Table PA9 below (and related graph) shows the number of irregularities and related financial 
amounts concerning IPA II since 2014, by beneficiary country and component. 

In 55% of these irregularities, the financial amounts involved were below EUR 10 000, 
with  is  higher  than  for  IPA I.63  The  financial  amounts  involved  in  these  ‘below-10 000’ 
irregularities represented just less than 2% of the financial amounts involved in all the IPA II 
pre-accession  irregularities.  Concerning  these  ‘below-10 000’  irregularities:  (i)  Türkiye 
reported  53%  of  them.  The  second  and  third  ranking  countries  were  North  Macedonia  and 
Albania,  respectively  with  20%  and  17%  of  the  ‘below-10  000’  irregularities;  (ii)  75%  of 
them were related to agriculture and rural development. The second ranking policy area was 
‘Institution-  and  capacity-building’,  with  10%  of  the  ‘below-10  000  irregularities,  most  of 
them reported by Albania. 

Since 2014, 9 beneficiary countries reported 1 063 irregularities related to 5 policy areas (see 
Table PA9 and related graph). The highest number of irregularities concerned agriculture 
and rural development - also because of many ‘below-10 000’ irregularities (57%) - mostly 
reported by Türkiye (55%), North Macedonia (23%) and Albania (15%). Only two other 
countries,  Montenegro  and  Serbia,  reported  cases  related  to  agriculture  and  rural 
development.  

A  broader  range  of  countries  reported  irregularities  concerning  regional  and  territorial 
cooperation,  the  second  most  affected  policy  area.  This  was  influenced  by  a  lower 
percentage  of  ‘below-10 000’  irregularities  than  agriculture  and  rural  development  (27%  of 
the  irregularities  related  to  regional  and  territorial  cooperation).    Most  of  the  cooperation 
irregularities were reported by Serbia and Bulgaria.  

third  highest  number  of 

The 
‘Institution-  and 
capacity-building’  and  reporting  was  mostly  from  Albania.  About  71%  of  the 
irregularities were ‘below-10 000’. 

irregularities 

concerned 

The  fourth  highest  number  of  irregularities  concerned  ‘socio-economic  and  regional 
development’  and  reporting  was  mostly  from  Türkiye.  About  68%  of  the  irregularities 
were ‘below-10 000’. 

63  As  already mentioned,  considering  irregularities  where  the  financial  amounts  were  below  EUR  10 000,  but 
excluding open irregularities where the financial amounts were still zero.  

64 

NEURNEURNEURNEURNEURNEURNEURNEUR2020459,043000000650,98410112,06800126,242281,715,6922021842,811114,86300006324,5481338,468163,90214731,093411,587,8462022582,894,847386,05800005324,838822,732,297123,355142,043,4981213,361,0882023541,444,96916438,596242,810111,53911199,657357,70200231,846,57914120,884,3082024607,729,257132,0035192,0200014312,475326,041,24500211,363,4871653,358,812TOTAL18412,170,92721571,5197234,830111,539421,212,5031408,981,781287,257736,010,89849630,907,746TRRORSYearALBGITMEMKGR 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
PRE-ACCESSION 

Table PA9 – Pre-accession: irregularities reported under IPA II components since 2014 

65 

NEURNEURNEURNEURNEURNEURAL1139,170,71531,283,33355369,8240000131,347,055BG0028689,11400000000GR007234,83000000000IT00111,53900000000ME31845,496516,88424,900005345,22400MK1809,300,8340023,31281,0930000RO00287,25700000000RS192,637,988442,076,900101,294,34321,170249800TR43212,238,80547,05810810,5135618,488,75323709,075692,499TOTAL77534,193,838944,406,915792,482,8926618,491,016301,054,797191,439,554(1) For the full description of the policy areas, see Section 5.2.3.Not specifiedAgriculture and rural developmentRegional and territorial cooperationInstitution- and capacity-buildingSocio-economic and regional developmentHuman resources developmentPolicy area (1) 
 
DIRECT MANAGEMENT 

6.  DIRECT MANAGEMENT 

6.1. 

Introduction 

Section  6  contains  a  descriptive  analysis  of  data  on  recovery  orders  issued  by  the 
Commission in relation to expenditure managed in direct management mode, one of the three 
modes  the  Commission  uses  to  implement  the  EU  budget.  Under  the  Financial  Regulation, 
the Commission implements the budget directly (‘direct management’) as set out in Articles 
125 to 153, through its departments, including its staff in EU delegations under the authority 
of  their  respective  heads  of  delegation,  in  line  with  Article 60(2),  or  through  executive 
agencies as referred to in Article 6964.  

6.2.  General overview 

In  2024,  a  total  of  EUR 106 068  million65  was  disbursed  under  direct  management66. 
Table DM1 below presents the actual payments by budget heading67. Compared to previous 
years, the actual payments are higher. 

Table DM1 – Payments made in the 2024 financial year by budget heading 

Table DM2  below  presents  RRF  grants  paid  per  Member  State  in  2024.68  These  grants 
accounted  for  EUR 55 896 million69,  which  is  more  than  the  rest  of  direct  management 
spending  (EUR 50 172 million)70.  Overall,  23  Member  States  received  RRF  grants71. 

64 Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2018/1046 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 July 2018 on the 
financial rules applicable to the general budget of the Union, amending Regulations (EU) No 1296/2013, (EU) 
No 1301/2013,  (EU)  No 1303/2013,  (EU)  No 1304/2013,  (EU)  No 1309/2013,  (EU)  No 1316/2013,  (EU) 
No 223/2014,  (EU)  No 283/2014,  and  Decision  No 541/2014/EU  and  repealing  Regulation  (EU,  Euratom) 
No 966/2012PE/13/2018/REV/1 (OJ L 193, 30.7.2018, p. 1–222). 
65 Own calculation based on ABAC data extracted in January and reassessed at the end of March 2025. 
66 This amount includes RRF grants. 
67 For the RRF, see Table DM2. 
68 Data provided at the end of February 2025. 
69 This corresponds to the 2024 payments  from two ABAC budget items: ‘European Recovery and Resilience 
Facility (incl. Technical Support Instrument)’ [06 02 01 00] and ‘Brexit Adjustment Reserve’ [16 02 04 00]. 
70 As no irregularities related to the RRF were reported until the end of 2024 in ABAC and the presence of RRF 
payments in the analysis would distort drastically the percentages, they have been excluded from the analysis in 
Sections 6.3 and 6.4. 
71 Apart from grants, the RRF consists of loans, which in 2024 accounted for EUR 29 446 million. RRF loans 
are  not  part  of  direct  management,  therefore,  they  are  not  part  of  this  analysis  of  direct  management  (entire 
Section 6). 

66 

Multiannual financial framework (MFF) heading Payments in 2024 Million EUR % 1. Single market, innovation and digital 23 585  47.0 2. Cohesion, resilience and values 2 295  4.6 3. Natural resources and environment 365  0.7 4. Migration and border management 241  0.5 5. Security and defence 807  1.6 6. Neighbourhood and the world 11 255  22.4 7. European public administration 11 626  23.2 Total direct management (DM) excluding RRF 50 172 100.0   
 
 
DIRECT MANAGEMENT 

Germany received the highest amount (EUR 13 514 million), followed by Spain and France 
(EUR 10 926 million  and  EUR 7 483 million,  respectively).  Austria,  Bulgaria,  Luxembourg 
and Sweden did not receive any grants. 

Table DM2 – RRF payments per Member State made in the 2024 financial year 

6.3.  General 5-year analysis 2020-2024 

In 2024, the Commission registered 1 040 recovery items72 in the ABAC system73 that were 
qualified  as  irregularities,  which  amounted  to  EUR 135.39 million.  Among  these  recovery 
items, 63 were reported as fraudulent, involving a total of EUR 62.44 million. The following 
analysis gives an overview of recovery data recorded by the Commission in ABAC in the last 
5 years. 

On  average,  during  2020-2024,  there  were  43  recovery  items  qualified  as  fraudulent 
irregularities  per  year74.  During  2020-2024,  the  ratio  of  the  financial  amounts  involved  in 
these irregularities and total expenditure under direct management was very low (0.05%). In 
2024, there was a significant increase in the number of reported fraudulent irregularities (63, 
the highest number during 2020-2024) and in the amounts affected75 (see Table DM3 below). 

72 Recovery items mean ‘recovery context’ elements in ABAC. There can be more recovery context elements 
associated to one recovery order issued. As of 2023, they also include cancellations. 
73  ABAC  is a  transversal,  transactional  information  system  allowing  for  the  execution  and  monitoring  of  all 
budgetary and accounting operations by the Commission, an agency or institution. 
74  For  the  purpose  of  this  analysis,  fraudulent  irregularities  are  recovery  items  qualified  in  ABAC  as  ‘OLAF 
notified’. 
75 This is the result of recording 5 recovery orders of more than EUR 1 million each in ABAC, with one specific 
fraudulent irregularity  of around EUR 46 million. All of these recovery orders followed OLAF investigations. 
This spike also affects other parts of the analysis. 

67 

Country  Grants paid out in 2024 Million EUR % Belgium 734  1.3 Croatia 773  1.4 Cyprus 136  0.2 Czechia 2 185  3.9 Denmark 422  0.8 Estonia 122  0.2 Finland 228  0.4 France 7 483  13.4 Germany 13 514  24.2 Greece 1 157  2.1 Hungary 140  0.3 Ireland 324  0.6 Italy 5 456  9.8 Latvia 363  0.6 Lithuania 190  0.3 Malta 59  0.1 Netherlands 1 333  2.4 Poland 6 750  12.1 Portugal 2 374  4.2 Romania 288  0.5 Slovakia 799  1.4 Slovenia 142  0.3 Spain 10 926  19.5 Total  55 896  100.0   
 
 
DIRECT MANAGEMENT 

Table DM3 – Irregularities reported as fraudulent and related amounts, 2020-2024 financial years 

During  2020-2024,  there  were  a  total  of  4 692  recovery  items  registered  as  non-fraudulent 
irregularities  (on  average  938 items  per  year),  with  a 
total  recovery  amount  of 
EUR 268.32 million (see Table DM4 below). In 2024, both the number of cases reported and 
the  amounts  involved  increased.  During  2020-2024,  the  ratio  of  the  financial  amounts 
involved  in  these  irregularities  and  total  expenditure  under  direct  management  was  around 
0.15%. This ratio had steadily declined from 0.5-0.6% in 2015 to 0.12% in 2023.  

Table DM4 – Irregularities reported as non-fraudulent and related amounts, 2020-2024 financial years  

6.4. 

Specific analysis 

6.4.1.  Recoveries by budget headings 

In 2024, the highest number of recovery items qualified as non-fraudulent irregularities and 
the  highest  irregular  amounts  (EUR 58.96 million)  were  recorded  in  the  ‘Single  market, 
innovation and digital’ budget heading (609 items). 

In  the  same  year,  63  recovery  items  were  qualified  as  fraudulent  irregularities.  The  two 
budget  headings  with  the  highest  number  of  fraudulent  irregularities  were  ‘Single  market, 
innovation  and  digital’  and  ‘Cohesion,  resilience  and  values’,  with  46  and  13  items, 
respectively. The total value of fraudulent irregularities was EUR 62.44 million, out of which 
96%  (EUR 59.74 million)  was  related  to  the  ‘Single  market,  innovation  and  digital’  budget 
heading. 

Table DM5 below provides an overview of irregularities by budget heading in 2024. 

68 

Year Payments Irregularities reported as fraudulent Irregular amounts / payments Million EUR No Million EUR % 2020 26 579 41 9.15 0.03 2021 21 711 54 7.04 0.03 2022 32 892 37 5.67 0.02 2023 42 340 20 1.87 0.00 2024 50 172 63 62.44 0.12 Total 173 694 215 86.17 0.05  Year Payments Irregularities not reported as fraudulent Irregular amounts/ payments Million EUR No Million EUR % 2020 26 579 1 285 53.22 0.20 2021 21 711 825 35.85 0.17 2022 32 892 733 55.61 0.17 2023 42 340 872 50.68 0.12 2024 50 172 977 72.96 0.15 Total 173 694 4 692 268.32 0.15   
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
DIRECT MANAGEMENT 

Table DM5 – Irregularities reported by budget heading and related amounts, 2024 

6.4.2.  Recoveries by legal entity residence 

During 2020-2024, 74.9% of non-fraudulent irregularities and 76.4% of the related recovery 
amounts  concerned  legal  entities  that  were  resident  in  the  EU-2776.  For  fraudulent 
irregularities,  this  percentage  is  slightly  lower  for  the  number  of  items  (72.6%)  and  much 
higher for the related recovery amounts (88.5%)77. 

Table DM6 below shows, for the past 5 years, the total recoveries by country of residence of 
the legal entity receiving the irregular payment. 

76 The residence of the legal entity and the residence of the beneficiary are not necessarily the same. 
77 In 2024, there was a significant number of recovery orders (6 of them above EUR 1 million each) which were 
the  outcome  of  OLAF  investigations.  One  particular  case  involved  a  fraudulent  irregularity  of  around 
EUR 46 million. All of these recovery orders concerned legal entities resident in the EU-27. 

69 

MFF heading Payments 2024 Irregularities not reported as fraudulent Irregularities reported as fraudulent Million EUR Million EUR No Million EUR No 1. Single market, innovation and digital 23 585  58.96 609 59.74 46 2. Cohesion, resilience and values 2 295  2.67 112 0.83 13 3. Natural resources and environment 365  0.01 1 0.00 0 4. Migration and border management 241  0.46 18 0.00 0 5. Security and defence 807  0.28 1 0.00 0 6. Neighbourhood and the world 11 255  8.97 214 1.87 4 7. European public administration 11 626  1.60 22 0.00 0 Total DM excluding RRF 50 172  72.96 977 62.44 63   
 
 
DIRECT MANAGEMENT 

Table DM6 – Recoveries per country of residence of the legal entity, 2020-2024 

6.4.3.  Method of detection 

During  2020-2024,  OLAF  was  mentioned  as  the  source  of  detection  for  89.8%  of  the 
recovery  items  related  to  fraudulent  irregularities,  accounting  for  96.9%  of  total  recovery 
amounts.  Meanwhile  ex post  controls  by  the  Commission  were  the  source  of  detection  for 
another 6.0% of this type of recovery item, accounting for 1.9% of the recovery amounts. 

Around  95.7%  of  recovery  items  qualified  as  non-fraudulent  irregularities  were  detected 
through  Commission  controls  (ex ante  and  ex post  controls).  The  percentage  of  ex ante 
controls steadily declined from 30% in 2015 to 6.4% in 2024. 

Table DM7  below  provides  a  breakdown  of  recoveries  by  source  of  detection  and  by 
classification. 

70 

LE country  Irregularities not reported as fraudulent Irregularities reported as fraudulent No Million EUR No Million EUR Austria 82 7.88 1 0.15 Belgium 363 11.21 8 1.41 Bulgaria 38 3.87 4 0.82 Croatia 34 3.75 0 0.00 Cyprus 16 1.01 2 0.04 Czechia 28 1.13 1 0.02 Denmark 154 3.71 4 0.10 Estonia 22 1.21 1 0.09 Finland 62 8.56 3 0.66 France 418 17.92 30 4.78 Germany 431 20.44 6 1.48 Greece 119 15.34 3 0.27 Hungary 37 1.88 11 54.09 Ireland 83 2.88 3 0.20 Italy 336 23.29 29 3.03 Latvia 17 1.10 0 0.00 Lithuania 32 0.59 1 0.11 Luxembourg 17 0.40 1 0.11 Malta 18 0.67 0 0.00 Netherlands 329 19.39 15 4.39 Poland 75 5.67 4 1.81 Portugal 79 2.06 0 0.00 Romania 48 5.17 1 0.01 Slovakia 28 8.33 2 0.05 Slovenia 20 0.15 1 0.04 Spain 540 31.86 24 2.47 Sweden 88 5.61 1 0.15 Total EU-27 3 514 205.08 156 76.30 United Kingdom 471 23.20 24 3.27      Total other countries 707 40.04 35 6.61 Grand total 4 692 268.32 215 86.18   
 
DIRECT MANAGEMENT 

Table DM7 – Irregularities reported by source of detection and by qualification, 2020-2024 

6.4.4.  Type of irregularity 

For fraudulent irregularities, ‘Amount ineligible’ was the most frequent type of infringement 
reported  from  2020  to  2024.  This  is  also  the  most  frequent  type  of  violation  for 
non-fraudulent 
and 
‘Under-performance/non-performance’. 

irregularities, 

‘Documents 

followed 

missing’ 

by 

Table DM8 below provides the full picture on the frequency of each type. 

Table DM8 – Types of irregularity, 2020-2024 

71 

Source of detection  2020-2024 Irregularities not reported as fraudulent Irregularities reported as fraudulent No Million EUR No Million EUR Ex ante controls  302 62.10 6 0.84 Ex post controls  4 189 188.81 13 1.66 Other controls (ECA) 105 9.47 1 0.09 Other controls (Member States) 14 1.19 2 0.12 Other controls (OLAF) 12 1.42 193 83.47 Other controls (To identify) and n.a. 70 5.32 0 0.00 Total 4 692 268.32 215 86.18  Type of irregularity 2020-2024 Irregularities not reported as fraudulent (frequency %) Irregularities reported as fraudulent (frequency %) Number Amount Number Amount Amount ineligible 86.4 57.8 73.0 29.7 Beneficiary 1.7 1.5 1.4 0.1 Calculation error 3.3 2.2 0.0 0.0 Documents missing 11.1 9.6 10.2 5.6 Double funding 0.7 2.8 3.3 0.1 Ethics and integrity 0.3 1.2 4.7 2.5 Profit 0.3 2.0 2.8 1.2 Public procurement rules not respected 1.0 7.3 9.3 65.0 Under-performance / non-performance 4.6 26.1 8.8 2.1 n. a. 0.1 0.2 0.0 0.0   
  
 
COUNTRY FACTSHEETS 

Introduction 

For TOR, the factsheet shows the number of (and the estimated and established amounts involved in) 
fraudulent and not fraudulent irregularities reported in relation to 2024. The estimated and established 
amounts  are compared  with  the amount  of  gross  TOR  collected in relation  to  2024  (‘estimated  and 
established amounts’ / ‘gross TOR’). 

For  the  Common  Agricultural  Policy,  the  factsheet  shows  the  number  of  (and  the  EU-share  of  the 
financial amounts involved in) fraudulent and not fraudulent irregularities reported in relation to 2024 
and the past 5 years. Data is separately shown for support to agriculture (direct payments to farmers 
and  market  measures)  and  rural  development.  The  financial  amounts  (EU-share)  involved  are 
compared with the payments received, through the indicators FDR and IDR. 

For the Cohesion and Fisheries Policies, the factsheet shows the number of (and the EU-share of the 
financial amounts involved in) fraudulent and not fraudulent irregularities reported in relation to the 
programming  period  2014-2020  (in  relation  to  2024  and  cumulative  since  the  start  of  the 
programming  period)  and  the  programming  period  2021-2027.  The  financial  amounts  (EU-share) 
involved  in  irregularities  related  to  the  programming  period  2014-2020  are  compared  with  the 
payments received, through the indicators FDR and IDR. 

Finally,  the  factsheet  includes  data  and  indicators  on  the  follow-up  the  Member  States  give  to 
suspected fraud. For an explanation of these data and indicators, please make reference to the relevant 
sections in this Statistical Evaluation attached to the 2024 PIF Report. 

For an overview of the Bodies that are ‘external’ to the standard management and control system for 
EU  funds,  but  that  can  play  a  (significant)  role  in  detecting  or  investigating  fraud  or  irregularities 
affecting  the  EU’s  financial  interests,  see  the  Country  factsheets  in  ‘Statistical  Evaluation  of 
irregularities reported for 2023’ (SWD(2024)193 final) accompanying the ‘35th Annual Report on the 
protection of the European Union’s financial interests and the fight against fraud – 2023’. 

72 

 
 
 
Belgium - Belgique/België 

73 

OWNRES / gross TORNEURNEUR%Established and estimated3128,425,35125620,867,6111.48%1. Traditional Own ResourcesReporting Year 2024Irregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulentFDRIDRNEURNEUR%%Support to agriculture (SA)00570,7120.000.01Rural Development (RD)00587,4000.000.08SA/RD00126,759TOTAL0011184,8710.000.03FDRIDRNEURNEUR%%Support to agriculture (SA)00421,315,0490.000.05Rural Development (RD)00601,211,8630.000.24SA/RD00237,241TOTAL001042,564,1530.000.08Irregularities reported 2020-2024FundIrregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulentFundIrregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities reported in 20242. Natural ResourcesIrregularities not reported as fraudulentPeriod / FundFDRIDRNEURNEUR%%Year 20248271,505201,874,819ERDF245,000101,100,183ESF6226,50510774,636Cumulative from start of the programming period 15432,9681087,656,4120.020.35ERDF5112,556714,980,1110.010.48ESF10320,412372,676,3010.030.243. Cohesion and Fisheries Policy - Programming period 2014-2020Irregularities not reported as fraudulentIrregularities reported as fraudulentN.ratioN.%N.%N.%BE00.000%2%00%1100%00%N.ratioN.%N.%N.%BE00.000%2%00%00%6100%4: Follow-up to suspected fraud - Irregularities initially reported during 2014-2018 (Common Agricultural Policy)(1)Reclassification (2)Incidence of riclassification (3)Incidence of fraud (4)DismissalEstablished fraudPending suspected fraudFor further explanations about these data, please see the PIF Report 2024(1) The irregularities that were reported and then cancelled are not included in this analysis(4) Percentage of irregularities that, at any moment in their lifetime, were classified as fraudulent over the total number of irregularities reported4: Follow-up to suspected fraud - Irregularities initially reported during 2014-2018 (Cohesion and Fisheries Policy) (1)PP 2007-2013 PP 2014-2020Reclassification (2)Incidence of riclassification (3)Incidence of fraud (4)DismissalEstablished fraudPending suspected fraud(2) Number of irregularities that, at any moment in their lifetime, have been reclassified from administrative to fraudulent over the number of administrative irregularities that have never been reclassified.  (3) Percentage of irregularities that have been reclassified from administrative to fraudulent over the total number of fraudulent irregularities (including the reclassified and the ones that have been classified as fraudulent since the beginning)  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Bulgaria – България 

74 

OWNRES / gross TORNEURNEUR%Established and estimated184,246,2281305,0912.70%1. Traditional Own ResourcesReporting Year 2024Irregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulentFDRIDRNEURNEUR%%Support to agriculture (SA)003441,8230.000.05Rural Development (RD)00555,589,0020.001.59TOTAL00586,030,8250.000.51FDRIDRNEURNEUR%%Support to agriculture (SA)41,097,947285,485,9840.030.13Rural Development (RD)81,081,74362443,645,5990.072.88SA/RD00223,364TOTAL122,179,69165449,154,9460.040.87Irregularities reported in 2024FundIrregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulent2. Natural ResourcesIrregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulentIrregularities reported 2020-2024FundPeriod / FundFDRIDRNEURNEUR%%Year 20244406,89511216,343,459CF00103,420,146ERDF2165,9677810,633,949ESF2240,92891,010,825EMFF00151,278,539Cumulative from start of the programming period 251,340,916621171,328,0010.022.18CF009398,358,5490.004.50ERDF5350,03442264,527,6090.011.67ESF20990,882624,196,7170.060.24EMFF00444,245,1260.005.91Irregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulent3. Cohesion and Fisheries Policy - Programming period 2014-2020Period / FundYear 2024ESF+00373,587Irregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulent4. Cohesion and Fisheries Policy - Programming period 2021-2027N.ratioN.%N.%N.%BG110.0313%17%3644%911%3745%N.ratioN.%N.%N.%BG00.000%2%650%217%433%4: Follow-up to suspected fraud - Irregularities initially reported during 2014-2018 (Common Agricultural Policy)(1)Reclassification (2)Incidence of riclassification (3)Incidence of fraud (4)DismissalEstablished fraudPending suspected fraud4: Follow-up to suspected fraud - Irregularities initially reported during 2014-2018 (Cohesion and Fisheries Policy) (1)PP 2007-2013 PP 2014-2020Reclassification (2)Incidence of riclassification (3)Incidence of fraud (4)DismissalEstablished fraudPending suspected fraud(4) Percentage of irregularities that, at any moment in their lifetime, were classified as fraudulent over the total number of irregularities reportedFor further explanations about these data, please see the PIF Report 2024(1) The irregularities that were reported and then cancelled are not included in this analysis(2) Number of irregularities that, at any moment in their lifetime, have been reclassified from administrative to fraudulent over the number of administrative irregularities that have never been reclassified.  (3) Percentage of irregularities that have been reclassified from administrative to fraudulent over the total number of fraudulent irregularities (including the reclassified and the ones that have been classified as fraudulent since the beginning)  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Czech Republic - Česká republika 

75 

OWNRES / gross TORNEURNEUR%Established and estimated00916,895,5491.53%1. Traditional Own ResourcesReporting Year 2024Irregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulentFDRIDRNEURNEUR%%Support to agriculture (SA)006193,3160.000.02Rural Development (RD)268,171392,845,3710.052.05TOTAL268,171453,038,6870.010.31FDRIDRNEURNEUR%%Support to agriculture (SA)4420,38233868,9080.010.02Rural Development (RD)11728,4772066,093,6540.040.37TOTAL151,148,8592396,962,5620.020.12Irregularities reported in 2024FundIrregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulentIrregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulent2. Natural ResourcesIrregularities reported 2020-2024FundPeriod / FundFDRIDRNEURNEUR%%Year 20246623,724,83631339,537,900CF29,856,107422,978,971ERDF1511,040,05819533,170,903ESF492,828,671763,388,026Cumulative from start of the programming period 20658,436,1511,374164,482,7670.260.73CF29,856,10718651,205,1190.160.83ERDF8442,273,406928103,095,4130.330.80ESF1206,306,6382408,886,2570.170.24EMFF00201,295,9780.004.17Irregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulent3. Cohesion and Fisheries Policy - Programming period 2014-2020Period / FundYear 2024CF002175,153ERDF00120,001ESF+124,033110,2604. Cohesion and Fisheries Policy - Programming period 2021-2027Irregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulentN.ratioN.%N.%N.%CZ30.028%18%38%3793%00%N.ratioN.%N.%N.%CZ450.0230%7%4026%6140%5033%4: Follow-up to suspected fraud - Irregularities initially reported during 2014-2018 (Common Agricultural Policy)(1)Reclassification (2)Incidence of riclassification (3)Incidence of fraud (4)DismissalEstablished fraudPending suspected fraud4: Follow-up to suspected fraud - Irregularities initially reported during 2014-2018 (Cohesion and Fisheries Policy) (1)PP 2007-2013 PP 2014-2020Reclassification (2)Incidence of riclassification (3)Incidence of fraud (4)DismissalEstablished fraudPending suspected fraud(4) Percentage of irregularities that, at any moment in their lifetime, were classified as fraudulent over the total number of irregularities reportedFor further explanations about these data, please see the PIF Report 2024(1) The irregularities that were reported and then cancelled are not included in this analysis(2) Number of irregularities that, at any moment in their lifetime, have been reclassified from administrative to fraudulent over the number of administrative irregularities that have never been reclassified.  (3) Percentage of irregularities that have been reclassified from administrative to fraudulent over the total number of fraudulent irregularities (including the reclassified and the ones that have been classified as fraudulent since the beginning)  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Denmark – Danmark 

76 

OWNRES / gross TORNEURNEUR%Established and estimated3220,350945,501,7041.18%1. Traditional Own ResourcesReporting Year 2024Irregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulentFDRIDRNEURNEUR%%Support to agriculture (SA)0020579,3020.000.07Rural Development (RD)6115,61427927,7620.070.55TOTAL6115,614471,507,0640.010.15FDRIDRNEURNEUR%%Support to agriculture (SA)00712,241,3040.000.05Rural Development (RD)625,492,101581,826,4980.920.31TOTAL625,492,1011294,067,8020.120.09FundIrregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulentIrregularities reported 2020-20242. Natural ResourcesIrregularities reported in 2024FundIrregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulentPeriod / FundFDRIDRNEURNEUR%%Year 2024005286,128ESF00241,177EMFF003244,951Cumulative from start of the programming period 4245,655392,056,5380.030.25ERDF4245,6559406,3040.070.11ESF009632,0290.000.24EMFF00211,018,2050.000.503. Cohesion and Fisheries Policy - Programming period 2014-2020Irregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulentN.ratioN.%N.%N.%DK10.017%16%427%533%640%N.ratioN.%N.%N.%DK30.1043%19%343%114%343%4: Follow-up to suspected fraud - Irregularities initially reported during 2014-2018 (Common Agricultural Policy)(1)Reclassification (2)Incidence of riclassification (3)Incidence of fraud (4)DismissalEstablished fraudPending suspected fraud4: Follow-up to suspected fraud - Irregularities initially reported during 2014-2018 (Cohesion and Fisheries Policy) (1)PP 2007-2013 PP 2014-2020Reclassification (2)Incidence of riclassification (3)Incidence of fraud (4)DismissalEstablished fraudPending suspected fraud(4) Percentage of irregularities that, at any moment in their lifetime, were classified as fraudulent over the total number of irregularities reportedFor further explanations about these data, please see the PIF Report 2024(1) The irregularities that were reported and then cancelled are not included in this analysis(2) Number of irregularities that, at any moment in their lifetime, have been reclassified from administrative to fraudulent over the number of administrative irregularities that have never been reclassified.  (3) Percentage of irregularities that have been reclassified from administrative to fraudulent over the total number of fraudulent irregularities (including the reclassified and the ones that have been classified as fraudulent since the beginning)  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Germany – Deutschland 

77 

OWNRES / gross TORNEURNEUR%Established and estimated27414,978,0511,922112,625,3492.38%1. Traditional Own ResourcesReporting Year 2024Irregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulentFDRIDRNEURNEUR%%Support to agriculture (SA)269,696471,229,6370.000.03Rural Development (RD)3181,197501,390,2800.010.08TOTAL5250,893972,619,9170.000.04FDRIDRNEURNEUR%%Support to agriculture (SA)131,096,7021847,101,3380.000.03Rural Development (RD)221,387,4082487,974,0630.020.10TOTAL352,484,11043215,075,4010.010.05FundIrregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulentIrregularities reported 2020-20242. Natural ResourcesIrregularities reported in 2024FundIrregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulentPeriod / FundFDRIDRNEURNEUR%%Year 2024262,925,44614527,831,039ERDF101,040,56210223,045,289ESF161,884,884404,276,440EMFF003509,310Cumulative from start of the programming period 8110,513,42761070,242,1810.050.34ERDF264,101,61043758,093,2500.030.48ESF556,411,81716311,444,1100.080.14EMFF0010704,8210.000.323. Cohesion and Fisheries Policy - Programming period 2014-2020Irregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulentPeriod / FundYear 2024ESF00116,921ESF+1217,825004. Cohesion and Fisheries Policy - Programming period 2021-2027Irregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulentN.ratioN.%N.%N.%DE30.019%9%2061%824%515%N.ratioN.%N.%N.%DE80.015%14%5839%3121%6040%4: Follow-up to suspected fraud - Irregularities initially reported during 2014-2018 (Common Agricultural Policy)(1)Reclassification (2)Incidence of riclassification (3)Incidence of fraud (4)DismissalEstablished fraudPending suspected fraud4: Follow-up to suspected fraud - Irregularities initially reported during 2014-2018 (Cohesion and Fisheries Policy) (1)PP 2007-2013 PP 2014-2020Reclassification (2)Incidence of riclassification (3)Incidence of fraud (4)DismissalEstablished fraudPending suspected fraud(4) Percentage of irregularities that, at any moment in their lifetime, were classified as fraudulent over the total number of irregularities reportedFor further explanations about these data, please see the PIF Report 2024(1) The irregularities that were reported and then cancelled are not included in this analysis(2) Number of irregularities that, at any moment in their lifetime, have been reclassified from administrative to fraudulent over the number of administrative irregularities that have never been reclassified.  (3) Percentage of irregularities that have been reclassified from administrative to fraudulent over the total number of fraudulent irregularities (including the reclassified and the ones that have been classified as fraudulent since the beginning)  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Estonia – Eesti 

78 

OWNRES / gross TORNEURNEUR%Established and estimated83,167,555007.21%1. Traditional Own ResourcesReporting Year 2024Irregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulentFDRIDRNEURNEUR%%Support to agriculture (SA)38596,780000.300.00Rural Development (RD)303,031,294241,140,7943.101.17TOTAL683,628,074241,140,7941.230.39FDRIDRNEURNEUR%%Support to agriculture (SA)38596,780000.070.00Rural Development (RD)11813,620,1901284,872,0432.570.92TOTAL15614,216,9701284,872,0431.000.34Irregularities reported 2020-2024FundIrregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulent2. Natural ResourcesIrregularities reported in 2024FundIrregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulentPeriod / FundFDRIDRNEURNEUR%%Year 202431,303,9882116,608,087CF001032,754,487ERDF31,303,9881023,627,459ESF00127,078EMFF005199,063Cumulative from start of the programming period 396,930,77657055,933,0860.181.47CF2610,99017125,529,4710.062.40ERDF255,751,22736327,291,8650.281.33ESF274,970292,842,9190.010.49EMFF10493,5897268,8310.490.27Irregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulent3. Cohesion and Fisheries Policy - Programming period 2014-2020Period / FundYear 2024ERDF86,280,213280,031ESF+00111,3294. Cohesion and Fisheries Policy - Programming period 2021-2027Irregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulentN.ratioN.%N.%N.%EE40.0314%16%13%1138%1759%N.ratioN.%N.%N.%EE30.0213%12%00%1042%1458%4: Follow-up to suspected fraud - Irregularities initially reported during 2014-2018 (Common Agricultural Policy)(1)Reclassification (2)Incidence of riclassification (3)Incidence of fraud (4)DismissalEstablished fraudPending suspected fraud4: Follow-up to suspected fraud - Irregularities initially reported during 2014-2018 (Cohesion and Fisheries Policy) (1)PP 2007-2013 PP 2014-2020Reclassification (2)Incidence of riclassification (3)Incidence of fraud (4)DismissalEstablished fraudPending suspected fraud(4) Percentage of irregularities that, at any moment in their lifetime, were classified as fraudulent over the total number of irregularities reportedFor further explanations about these data, please see the PIF Report 2024(1) The irregularities that were reported and then cancelled are not included in this analysis(2) Number of irregularities that, at any moment in their lifetime, have been reclassified from administrative to fraudulent over the number of administrative irregularities that have never been reclassified.  (3) Percentage of irregularities that have been reclassified from administrative to fraudulent over the total number of fraudulent irregularities (including the reclassified and the ones that have been classified as fraudulent since the beginning)  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Ireland – Éire 

79 

OWNRES / gross TORNEURNEUR%Established and estimated009812,520,7832.18%1. Traditional Own ResourcesReporting Year 2024Irregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulentFDRIDRNEURNEUR%%Rural Development (RD)00110,9780.000.00SA/RD129,83600TOTAL129,836110,9780.000.00FundIrregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulentIrregularities reported 2020-2024Period / FundFDRIDRNEURNEUR%%Year 202400239,067ERDF00239,067Cumulative from start of the programming period 00633,318,8570.000.28ERDF0018515,9110.000.11ESF00452,802,9460.000.503. Cohesion and Fisheries Policy - Programming period 2014-2020Irregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulentN.ratioN.%N.%N.%IE10.003%12%13%39%3189%N.ratioN.%N.%N.%IE00.00NANA0NA0NA0NA4: Follow-up to suspected fraud - Irregularities initially reported during 2014-2018 (Common Agricultural Policy)(1)Reclassification (2)Incidence of riclassification (3)Incidence of fraud (4)DismissalEstablished fraudPending suspected fraud4: Follow-up to suspected fraud - Irregularities initially reported during 2014-2018 (Cohesion and Fisheries Policy) (1)PP 2007-2013 PP 2014-2020Reclassification (2)Incidence of riclassification (3)Incidence of fraud (4)DismissalEstablished fraudPending suspected fraud(4) Percentage of irregularities that, at any moment in their lifetime, were classified as fraudulent over the total number of irregularities reportedFor further explanations about these data, please see the PIF Report 2024(1) The irregularities that were reported and then cancelled are not included in this analysis(2) Number of irregularities that, at any moment in their lifetime, have been reclassified from administrative to fraudulent over the number of administrative irregularities that have never been reclassified.  (3) Percentage of irregularities that have been reclassified from administrative to fraudulent over the total number of fraudulent irregularities (including the reclassified and the ones that have been classified as fraudulent since the beginning)  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Greece – Ελλάδα 

80 

OWNRES / gross TORNEURNEUR%Established and estimated161,230,6312161,9790.39%1. Traditional Own ResourcesReporting Year 2024Irregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulentFDRIDRNEURNEUR%%Support to agriculture (SA)243,698801,198,2810.000.06Rural Development (RD)001452,858,7620.000.41TOTAL243,6982254,057,0430.000.15FDRIDRNEURNEUR%%Support to agriculture (SA)82,714,8764938,519,5780.030.08Rural Development (RD)11,019,3791,21917,830,2940.030.49TOTAL93,734,2551,71226,349,8730.030.19FundIrregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulentIrregularities reported 2020-20242. Natural ResourcesIrregularities reported in 2024FundIrregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulentPeriod / FundFDRIDRNEURNEUR%%Year 20242269,37515418,158,734CF0094,134,655ERDF2269,3751107,977,951ESF00346,032,519EMFF00113,609Cumulative from start of the programming period 96,912,802419260,271,7340.041.43CF36,117,7033226,203,2480.220.94ERDF5753,69923673,983,4790.010.67ESF141,400143159,517,3110.003.91EMFF008567,6960.000.153. Cohesion and Fisheries Policy - Programming period 2014-2020Irregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulentN.ratioN.%N.%N.%GR50.0129%3%00%00%17100%N.ratioN.%N.%N.%GR90.0118%3%714%12%4384%4: Follow-up to suspected fraud - Irregularities initially reported during 2014-2018 (Common Agricultural Policy)(1)Reclassification (2)Incidence of riclassification (3)Incidence of fraud (4)DismissalEstablished fraudPending suspected fraud4: Follow-up to suspected fraud - Irregularities initially reported during 2014-2018 (Cohesion and Fisheries Policy) (1)PP 2007-2013 PP 2014-2020Reclassification (2)Incidence of riclassification (3)Incidence of fraud (4)DismissalEstablished fraudPending suspected fraud(4) Percentage of irregularities that, at any moment in their lifetime, were classified as fraudulent over the total number of irregularities reportedFor further explanations about these data, please see the PIF Report 2024(1) The irregularities that were reported and then cancelled are not included in this analysis(2) Number of irregularities that, at any moment in their lifetime, have been reclassified from administrative to fraudulent over the number of administrative irregularities that have never been reclassified.  (3) Percentage of irregularities that have been reclassified from administrative to fraudulent over the total number of fraudulent irregularities (including the reclassified and the ones that have been classified as fraudulent since the beginning)  
 
 
 
 
 
Spain – España 

81 

OWNRES / gross TORNEURNEUR%Established and estimated121,293,19639772,901,5922.87%1. Traditional Own ResourcesReporting Year 2024Irregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulentFDRIDRNEURNEUR%%Support to agriculture (SA)245,7622125,626,6700.000.10Rural Development (RD)33,961,5032286,875,9930.280.49TOTAL54,007,26544012,502,6630.060.17FDRIDRNEURNEUR%%Support to agriculture (SA)151,617,8971,08137,494,3470.010.13Rural Development (RD)147,145,0421,26577,439,3410.111.20TOTAL298,762,9392,346114,933,6880.030.33Irregularities reported in 2024FundIrregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulent2. Natural ResourcesIrregularities reported 2020-2024FundIrregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulentPeriod / FundFDRIDRNEURNEUR%%Year 2024005822,895,569ERDF002820,510,612ESF00232,140,696EMFF007244,261Cumulative from start of the programming period 4147,169490116,053,8530.000.28ERDF3100,71426463,288,4840.000.22ESF146,45518049,332,8000.000.41EMFF00463,432,5690.000.35Irregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulent3. Cohesion and Fisheries Policy - Programming period 2014-2020N.ratioN.%N.%N.%ES20.005%3%3170%00%1330%N.ratioN.%N.%N.%ES1020.0174%1%2518%00%11282%4: Follow-up to suspected fraud - Irregularities initially reported during 2014-2018 (Common Agricultural Policy)(1)Reclassification (2)Incidence of riclassification (3)Incidence of fraud (4)DismissalEstablished fraudPending suspected fraud4: Follow-up to suspected fraud - Irregularities initially reported during 2014-2018 (Cohesion and Fisheries Policy) (1)PP 2007-2013 PP 2014-2020Reclassification (2)Incidence of riclassification (3)Incidence of fraud (4)DismissalEstablished fraudPending suspected fraud(4) Percentage of irregularities that, at any moment in their lifetime, were classified as fraudulent over the total number of irregularities reportedFor further explanations about these data, please see the PIF Report 2024(1) The irregularities that were reported and then cancelled are not included in this analysis(2) Number of irregularities that, at any moment in their lifetime, have been reclassified from administrative to fraudulent over the number of administrative irregularities that have never been reclassified.  (3) Percentage of irregularities that have been reclassified from administrative to fraudulent over the total number of fraudulent irregularities (including the reclassified and the ones that have been classified as fraudulent since the beginning)  
 
 
 
 
 
France 

82 

OWNRES / gross TORNEURNEUR%Established and estimated687,107,71128936,604,4461.68%1. Traditional Own ResourcesReporting Year 2024Irregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulentFDRIDRNEURNEUR%%Support to agriculture (SA)5254,902362,307,6080.000.03Rural Development (RD)00844,024,0910.000.20TOTAL5254,9021206,331,6990.000.07FDRIDRNEURNEUR%%Support to agriculture (SA)1653,947,13433123,515,6460.010.06Rural Development (RD)48827,81554914,325,5850.010.15TOTAL2134,774,94988037,841,2310.010.08FundIrregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulentIrregularities reported 2020-20242. Natural ResourcesIrregularities reported in 2024FundIrregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulentPeriod / FundFDRIDRNEURNEUR%%Year 20242856,7168599,226ERDF2856,7166403,165ESF002196,061Cumulative from start of the programming period 2311,077,85148056,799,0740.060.32ERDF1810,799,50632842,479,0920.100.39ESF4222,09512511,008,1630.000.17EMFF156,250273,311,8190.010.633. Cohesion and Fisheries Policy - Programming period 2014-2020Irregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulentN.ratioN.%N.%N.%FR10.002%7%1422%914%4164%N.ratioN.%N.%N.%FR00.000%3%00%00%12100%4: Follow-up to suspected fraud - Irregularities initially reported during 2014-2018 (Common Agricultural Policy)(1)Reclassification (2)Incidence of riclassification (3)Incidence of fraud (4)DismissalEstablished fraudPending suspected fraud4: Follow-up to suspected fraud - Irregularities initially reported during 2014-2018 (Cohesion and Fisheries Policy) (1)PP 2007-2013 PP 2014-2020Reclassification (2)Incidence of riclassification (3)Incidence of fraud (4)DismissalEstablished fraudPending suspected fraud(4) Percentage of irregularities that, at any moment in their lifetime, were classified as fraudulent over the total number of irregularities reportedFor further explanations about these data, please see the PIF Report 2024(1) The irregularities that were reported and then cancelled are not included in this analysis(2) Number of irregularities that, at any moment in their lifetime, have been reclassified from administrative to fraudulent over the number of administrative irregularities that have never been reclassified.  (3) Percentage of irregularities that have been reclassified from administrative to fraudulent over the total number of fraudulent irregularities (including the reclassified and the ones that have been classified as fraudulent since the beginning)  
 
 
 
 
 
 
Croatia – Hrvatska 

83 

OWNRES / gross TORNEURNEUR%Established and estimated3145,83614800,4961.13%1. Traditional Own ResourcesReporting Year 2024Irregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulentFDRIDRNEURNEUR%%Support to agriculture (SA)00141,142,1020.000.30Rural Development (RD)141,96414011,823,9820.013.98TOTAL141,96415412,966,0840.011.91FDRIDRNEURNEUR%%Support to agriculture (SA)11,315,455331,537,5310.070.08Rural Development (RD)102,003,81942726,549,6110.111.51TOTAL113,319,27446028,087,1420.090.78Irregularities reported in 2024FundIrregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulentIrregularities reported 2020-2024FundIrregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulent2. Natural ResourcesPeriod / FundFDRIDRNEURNEUR%%Year 2024312,150,1015110,186,906CF19,910,95121,318,909ERDF22,239,150111,031,274ESF00387,836,723Cumulative from start of the programming period 1314,373,42323750,680,4600.160.56CF19,910,9512510,622,5300.470.50ERDF124,462,4727414,702,0800.090.31ESF0011223,034,6240.001.18EMFF00262,321,2260.001.03Irregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulent3. Cohesion and Fisheries Policy - Programming period 2014-2020N.ratioN.%N.%N.%HR20.0213%14%425%744%531%N.ratioN.%N.%N.%HR000%6%00%125%375%4: Follow-up to suspected fraud - Irregularities initially reported during 2014-2018 (Common Agricultural Policy)(1)Reclassification (2)Incidence of riclassification (3)Incidence of fraud (4)DismissalEstablished fraudPending suspected fraud4: Follow-up to suspected fraud - Irregularities initially reported during 2014-2018 (Cohesion and Fisheries Policy) (1)PP 2007-2013 PP 2014-2020Reclassification (2)Incidence of riclassification (3)Incidence of fraud (4)DismissalEstablished fraudPending suspected fraud(4) Percentage of irregularities that, at any moment in their lifetime, were classified as fraudulent over the total number of irregularities reportedFor further explanations about these data, please see the PIF Report 2024(1) The irregularities that were reported and then cancelled are not included in this analysis(2) Number of irregularities that, at any moment in their lifetime, have been reclassified from administrative to fraudulent over the number of administrative irregularities that have never been reclassified.  (3) Percentage of irregularities that have been reclassified from administrative to fraudulent over the total number of fraudulent irregularities (including the reclassified and the ones that have been classified as fraudulent since the beginning)  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Italy – Italia 

84 

OWNRES / gross TORNEURNEUR%Established and estimated4610,039,602998,117,4700.60%1. Traditional Own ResourcesReporting Year 2024Irregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulentFDRIDRNEURNEUR%%Support to agriculture (SA)14855,19312613,879,7360.020.34Rural Development (RD)384,9381064,922,9940.000.28SA/RD6510,018364,077,580TOTAL231,450,14926822,880,3100.020.39FDRIDRNEURNEUR%%Support to agriculture (SA)755,954,17074445,041,3970.030.21Rural Development (RD)387,276,25550040,020,0570.090.49SA/RD262,416,16711113,110,157TOTAL13915,646,5921,35598,171,6110.050.34FundIrregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulentIrregularities reported 2020-20242. Natural ResourcesIrregularities reported in 2024FundIrregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulentPeriod / FundFDRIDRNEURNEUR%%Year 20240011624,600,972ERDF007918,835,584ESF00375,765,388Cumulative from start of the programming period 104,330,557649116,538,6450.010.27ERDF104,330,557515100,082,7420.020.38ESF0013316,417,7670.000.10EMFF00138,1360.000.013. Cohesion and Fisheries Policy - Programming period 2014-2020Irregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulentN.ratioN.%N.%N.%IT900.0436%10%3815%83%20682%N.ratioN.%N.%N.%IT230.0248%4%1531%510%2858%4: Follow-up to suspected fraud - Irregularities initially reported during 2014-2018 (Common Agricultural Policy)(1)Reclassification (2)Incidence of riclassification (3)Incidence of fraud (4)DismissalEstablished fraud(4) Percentage of irregularities that, at any moment in their lifetime, were classified as fraudulent over the total number of irregularities reportedFor further explanations about these data, please see the PIF Report 2024Pending suspected fraudPending suspected fraud(1) The irregularities that were reported and then cancelled are not included in this analysis(2) Number of irregularities that, at any moment in their lifetime, have been reclassified from administrative to fraudulent over the number of administrative irregularities that have never been reclassified.  (3) Percentage of irregularities that have been reclassified from administrative to fraudulent over the total number of fraudulent irregularities (including the reclassified and the ones that have been classified as fraudulent since the beginning) 4: Follow-up to suspected fraud - Irregularities initially reported during 2014-2018 (Cohesion and Fisheries Policy) (1)PP 2007-2013 PP 2014-2020Reclassification (2)Incidence of riclassification (3)Incidence of fraud (4)DismissalEstablished fraud 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Cyprus – Κύπρος 

85 

OWNRES / gross TORNEURNEUR%Established and estimated6202,1204103,9480.51%1. Traditional Own ResourcesReporting Year 2024Irregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulentFDRIDRNEURNEUR%%Rural Development (RD)154,819000.200.00SA/Rd13,10200TOTAL257,921000.070.00FDRIDRNEURNEUR%%Rural Development (RD)3866,924000.760.00SA/RD13,10200TOTAL4870,026000.230.002. Natural ResourcesIrregularities reported in 2024FundIrregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulentIrregularities reported 2020-2024FundIrregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulentPeriod / FundFDRIDRNEURNEUR%%Year 2024251,0006908,108CF004884,016ERDF251,000111,944ESF00112,148Cumulative from start of the programming period 4414,860242,657,8690.050.30CF0091,655,2650.000.64ERDF4414,8606407,3080.110.11ESF006351,4390.000.16EMFF003243,8570.000.613. Cohesion and Fisheries Policy - Programming period 2014-2020Irregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulentN.ratioN.%N.%N.%CY000%21%00%00%6100%N.ratioN.%N.%N.%CY000%9%00%120%480%4: Follow-up to suspected fraud - Irregularities initially reported during 2014-2018 (Common Agricultural Policy)(1)Reclassification (2)Incidence of riclassification (3)Incidence of fraud (4)DismissalEstablished fraudPending suspected fraud4: Follow-up to suspected fraud - Irregularities initially reported during 2014-2018 (Cohesion and Fisheries Policy) (1)PP 2007-2013 PP 2014-2020Reclassification (2)Incidence of riclassification (3)Incidence of fraud (4)DismissalEstablished fraudPending suspected fraud(4) Percentage of irregularities that, at any moment in their lifetime, were classified as fraudulent over the total number of irregularities reportedFor further explanations about these data, please see the PIF Report 2024(1) The irregularities that were reported and then cancelled are not included in this analysis(2) Number of irregularities that, at any moment in their lifetime, have been reclassified from administrative to fraudulent over the number of administrative irregularities that have never been reclassified.  (3) Percentage of irregularities that have been reclassified from administrative to fraudulent over the total number of fraudulent irregularities (including the reclassified and the ones that have been classified as fraudulent since the beginning)  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Latvia – Latvija 

86 

OWNRES / gross TORNEURNEUR%Established and estimated00251,191,6011.97%1. Traditional Own ResourcesReporting Year 2024Irregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulentFDRIDRNEURNEUR%%Support to agriculture (SA)00110,2130.000.00Rural Development (RD)61,516,58012855,5871.200.68TOTAL61,516,58013865,8000.330.19FDRIDRNEURNEUR%%Support to agriculture (SA)009174,1600.000.01Rural Development (RD)253,616,592702,712,5900.550.41TOTAL253,616,592792,886,7500.160.13FundIrregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulentIrregularities reported 2020-20242. Natural ResourcesIrregularities reported in 2024FundIrregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulentPeriod / FundFDRIDRNEURNEUR%%Year 20243174,0423513,827,839CF132,7292245,648ERDF2141,3132912,912,282ESF00389,730EMFF001580,179Cumulative from start of the programming period 7132,699,60314428,514,6520.690.60CF51,654,048196,958,5800.130.56ERDF5629,845,5109819,966,7371.120.75ESF6545,16617822,6710.080.12EMFF4654,87910766,6640.470.553. Cohesion and Fisheries Policy - Programming period 2014-2020Irregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulentPeriod / FundYear 2024ESF+261,629004. Cohesion and Fisheries Policy - Programming period 2021-2027Irregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulentN.ratioN.%N.%N.%LV50.0516%24%39%722%2269%N.ratioN.%N.%N.%LV50.0113%10%924%1334%1642%4: Follow-up to suspected fraud - Irregularities initially reported during 2014-2018 (Common Agricultural Policy)(1)Reclassification (2)Incidence of riclassification (3)Incidence of fraud (4)DismissalEstablished fraudPending suspected fraud4: Follow-up to suspected fraud - Irregularities initially reported during 2014-2018 (Cohesion and Fisheries Policy) (1)PP 2007-2013 PP 2014-2020Reclassification (2)Incidence of riclassification (3)Incidence of fraud (4)DismissalEstablished fraudPending suspected fraud(4) Percentage of irregularities that, at any moment in their lifetime, were classified as fraudulent over the total number of irregularities reportedFor further explanations about these data, please see the PIF Report 2024(1) The irregularities that were reported and then cancelled are not included in this analysis(2) Number of irregularities that, at any moment in their lifetime, have been reclassified from administrative to fraudulent over the number of administrative irregularities that have never been reclassified.  (3) Percentage of irregularities that have been reclassified from administrative to fraudulent over the total number of fraudulent irregularities (including the reclassified and the ones that have been classified as fraudulent since the beginning)  
 
 
 
 
 
 
Lithuania – Lietuva 

87 

OWNRES / gross TORNEURNEUR%Established and estimated191,505,07419371,4641.53%1. Traditional Own ResourcesReporting Year 2024Irregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulentFDRIDRNEURNEUR%%Support to agriculture (SA)0036850,1880.000.14Rural Development (RD)171,838,296863,493,0120.701.33TOTAL171,838,2961224,343,2000.220.51FDRIDRNEURNEUR%%Support to agriculture (SA)477,6281293,255,3440.000.12Rural Development (RD)713,449,70838111,215,2250.311.00TOTAL753,527,33651014,470,5690.090.37Irregularities reported 2020-2024FundIrregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulent2. Natural ResourcesIrregularities reported in 2024FundIrregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulentPeriod / FundFDRIDRNEURNEUR%%Year 202452,325,55510614,777,074CF00135,053,039ERDF42,284,500879,613,632ESF141,055350,604EMFF00359,799Cumulative from start of the programming period 154,355,02261059,856,7440.060.85CF0011016,163,2290.000.79ERDF53,784,50046341,439,0120.101.12ESF7471,904332,175,1630.040.17EMFF398,618479,3400.160.133. Cohesion and Fisheries Policy - Programming period 2014-2020Irregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulentN.ratioN.%N.%N.%LT10.003%5%00%00%40100%N.ratioN.%N.%N.%LT30.0138%3%113%563%225%4: Follow-up to suspected fraud - Irregularities initially reported during 2014-2018 (Common Agricultural Policy)(1)Reclassification (2)Incidence of riclassification (3)Incidence of fraud (4)DismissalEstablished fraudPending suspected fraud4: Follow-up to suspected fraud - Irregularities initially reported during 2014-2018 (Cohesion and Fisheries Policy) (1)PP 2007-2013 PP 2014-2020Reclassification (2)Incidence of riclassification (3)Incidence of fraud (4)DismissalEstablished fraudPending suspected fraud(4) Percentage of irregularities that, at any moment in their lifetime, were classified as fraudulent over the total number of irregularities reportedFor further explanations about these data, please see the PIF Report 2024(1) The irregularities that were reported and then cancelled are not included in this analysis(2) Number of irregularities that, at any moment in their lifetime, have been reclassified from administrative to fraudulent over the number of administrative irregularities that have never been reclassified.  (3) Percentage of irregularities that have been reclassified from administrative to fraudulent over the total number of fraudulent irregularities (including the reclassified and the ones that have been classified as fraudulent since the beginning)  
 
 
 
 
 
 
Luxembourg 

88 

OWNRES / gross TORNEURNEUR%Established and estimated003182,4750.94%1. Traditional Own ResourcesReporting Year 2024Irregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulentFDRIDRNEURNEUR%%Rural Development (RD)00133,5090.000.37TOTAL00133,5090.000.08FDRIDRNEURNEUR%%Rural Development (RD)00252,7280.000.07TOTAL00252,7280.000.02Irregularities reported 2020-2024FundIrregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulentIrregularities reported in 20242. Natural ResourcesFundIrregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulentPeriod / FundFDRIDRNEURNEUR%%Cumulative from start of the programming period 00114,2590.000.01ERDF00114,2590.000.023. Cohesion and Fisheries Policy - Programming period 2014-2020Irregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulentN.ratioN.%N.%N.%LU000%50%00%00%1100%N.ratioN.%N.%N.%LU0NANANA0NA0NA0NA4: Follow-up to suspected fraud - Irregularities initially reported during 2014-2018 (Common Agricultural Policy)(1)Reclassification (2)Incidence of riclassification (3)Incidence of fraud (4)DismissalEstablished fraudPending suspected fraud4: Follow-up to suspected fraud - Irregularities initially reported during 2014-2018 (Cohesion and Fisheries Policy) (1)PP 2007-2013 PP 2014-2020Reclassification (2)Incidence of riclassification (3)Incidence of fraud (4)DismissalEstablished fraudPending suspected fraud(4) Percentage of irregularities that, at any moment in their lifetime, were classified as fraudulent over the total number of irregularities reportedFor further explanations about these data, please see the PIF Report 2024(1) The irregularities that were reported and then cancelled are not included in this analysis(2) Number of irregularities that, at any moment in their lifetime, have been reclassified from administrative to fraudulent over the number of administrative irregularities that have never been reclassified.  (3) Percentage of irregularities that have been reclassified from administrative to fraudulent over the total number of fraudulent irregularities (including the reclassified and the ones that have been classified as fraudulent since the beginning)  
 
 
 
 
 
 
Hungary - Magyarország 

89 

OWNRES / gross TORNEURNEUR%Established and estimated2145,634342,681,7850.92%1. Traditional Own ResourcesReporting Year 2024Irregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulentFDRIDRNEURNEUR%%Support to agriculture (SA)0011231,9630.000.02Rural Development (RD)0037511,588,8410.002.22TOTAL0038611,820,8040.000.62FDRIDRNEURNEUR%%Support to agriculture (SA)10563,632,8760.000.05Rural Development (RD)18409,1591,27337,567,4210.011.18TOTAL19409,159132941,200,2970.000.42Irregularities reported in 2024FundIrregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulentIrregularities reported 2020-2024FundIrregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulent2. Natural ResourcesPeriod / FundFDRIDRNEURNEUR%%Year 2024537,266,07323239,997,848CF0042,758,680ERDF487,124,23417234,403,895ESF5141,839562,835,273Cumulative from start of the programming period 20150,238,1431,078168,153,1000.220.75CF11,288,8084518,189,1240.020.30ERDF18847,587,651776115,603,4930.421.02ESF121,361,68424632,735,1650.030.66EMFF00111,625,3180.004.773. Cohesion and Fisheries Policy - Programming period 2014-2020Irregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulentPeriod / FundYear 2024ERDF1107,247756,289,9904. Cohesion and Fisheries Policy - Programming period 2021-2027Irregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulentN.ratioN.%N.%N.%HU180.028%20%3716%188%17476%N.ratioN.%N.%N.%HU10.001%8%2317%00%11183%4: Follow-up to suspected fraud - Irregularities initially reported during 2014-2018 (Common Agricultural Policy)(1)Reclassification (2)Incidence of riclassification (3)Incidence of fraud (4)DismissalEstablished fraudPending suspected fraud4: Follow-up to suspected fraud - Irregularities initially reported during 2014-2018 (Cohesion and Fisheries Policy) (1)PP 2007-2013 PP 2014-2020Reclassification (2)Incidence of riclassification (3)Incidence of fraud (4)DismissalEstablished fraudPending suspected fraud(4) Percentage of irregularities that, at any moment in their lifetime, were classified as fraudulent over the total number of irregularities reportedFor further explanations about these data, please see the PIF Report 2024(1) The irregularities that were reported and then cancelled are not included in this analysis(2) Number of irregularities that, at any moment in their lifetime, have been reclassified from administrative to fraudulent over the number of administrative irregularities that have never been reclassified.  (3) Percentage of irregularities that have been reclassified from administrative to fraudulent over the total number of fraudulent irregularities (including the reclassified and the ones that have been classified as fraudulent since the beginning)  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Malta 

90 

OWNRES / gross TORNEURNEUR%Established and estimated00395,3790.37%1. Traditional Own ResourcesReporting Year 2024Irregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulentFDRIDRNEURNEUR%%Rural Development (RD)006144,8410.000.58TOTAL006144,8410.000.41FDRIDRNEURNEUR%%Rural Development (RD)4354,101301,761,6370.432.15TOTAL4354,101301,761,6370.311.56FundIrregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulentIrregularities reported 2020-20242. Natural ResourcesIrregularities reported in 2024FundIrregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulentPeriod / FundFDRIDRNEURNEUR%%Year 2024160,1499854,247ERDF160,1496769,393ESF00131,306EMFF00253,548Cumulative from start of the programming period 2274,844272,822,4870.030.34CF1214,6952913,5180.100.45ERDF160,149151,219,5920.020.33ESF006592,6670.000.24EMFF00496,7100.000.443. Cohesion and Fisheries Policy - Programming period 2014-2020Irregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulentN.ratioN.%N.%N.%MT000%4%00%00%1100%N.ratioN.%N.%N.%MT000%3%00%00%2100%Incidence of riclassification (3)Incidence of fraud (4)DismissalEstablished fraudPending suspected fraud(4) Percentage of irregularities that, at any moment in their lifetime, were classified as fraudulent over the total number of irregularities reportedFor further explanations about these data, please see the PIF Report 20244: Follow-up to suspected fraud - Irregularities initially reported during 2014-2018 (Common Agricultural Policy)(1)Reclassification (2)Incidence of riclassification (3)Incidence of fraud (4)DismissalEstablished fraudPending suspected fraud(1) The irregularities that were reported and then cancelled are not included in this analysis(2) Number of irregularities that, at any moment in their lifetime, have been reclassified from administrative to fraudulent over the number of administrative irregularities that have never been reclassified.  (3) Percentage of irregularities that have been reclassified from administrative to fraudulent over the total number of fraudulent irregularities (including the reclassified and the ones that have been classified as fraudulent since the beginning) 4: Follow-up to suspected fraud - Irregularities initially reported during 2014-2018 (Cohesion and Fisheries Policy) (1)PP 2007-2013 PP 2014-2020Reclassification (2) 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Netherlands - Nederland 

91 

OWNRES / gross TORNEURNEUR%Established and estimated0054175,445,5632.15%1. Traditional Own ResourcesReporting Year 2024Irregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulentFDRIDRNEURNEUR%%Support to agriculture (SA)3134,4156172,9490.020.02Rural Development (RD)004177,3310.000.08TOTAL3134,41510350,2800.010.04FDRIDRNEURNEUR%%Support to agriculture (SA)10364,882721,158,4390.010.03Rural Development (RD)19,69811668,6400.000.08TOTAL11374,580831,827,0790.010.04FundIrregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulentIrregularities reported 2020-20242. Natural ResourcesIrregularities reported in 2024FundIrregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulentPeriod / FundFDRIDRNEURNEUR%%Year 202400333,161,172ERDF00333,161,172Cumulative from start of the programming period 1208,575794,540,4790.010.27CF00142,275ERDF00714,258,6140.000.54ESF1208,5754199,1640.030.03EMFF00340,4260.000.04Irregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulent3. Cohesion and Fisheries Policy - Programming period 2014-2020N.ratioN.%N.%N.%NL20.009%5%939%1461%00%N.ratioN.%N.%N.%NL30.0119%5%319%744%638%Incidence of riclassification (3)Incidence of fraud (4)DismissalEstablished fraudPending suspected fraud(4) Percentage of irregularities that, at any moment in their lifetime, were classified as fraudulent over the total number of irregularities reportedFor further explanations about these data, please see the PIF Report 20244: Follow-up to suspected fraud - Irregularities initially reported during 2014-2018 (Common Agricultural Policy)(1)Reclassification (2)Incidence of riclassification (3)Incidence of fraud (4)DismissalEstablished fraudPending suspected fraud(1) The irregularities that were reported and then cancelled are not included in this analysis(2) Number of irregularities that, at any moment in their lifetime, have been reclassified from administrative to fraudulent over the number of administrative irregularities that have never been reclassified.  (3) Percentage of irregularities that have been reclassified from administrative to fraudulent over the total number of fraudulent irregularities (including the reclassified and the ones that have been classified as fraudulent since the beginning) 4: Follow-up to suspected fraud - Irregularities initially reported during 2014-2018 (Cohesion and Fisheries Policy) (1)PP 2007-2013 PP 2014-2020Reclassification (2) 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Austria – Österreich 

92 

OWNRES / gross TORNEURNEUR%Established and estimated118,403605,006,6041.80%1. Traditional Own ResourcesReporting Year 2024Irregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulentFDRIDRNEURNEUR%%Support to agriculture (SA)00351,4790.000.01Rural Development (RD)006219,3830.000.04TOTAL009270,8620.000.02FDRIDRNEURNEUR%%Support to agriculture (SA)41,156,09715786,9420.030.02Rural Development (RD)0016769,6780.000.03TOTAL41,156,097311,556,6200.020.02FundIrregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulentIrregularities reported 2020-20242. Natural ResourcesIrregularities reported in 2024FundIrregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulentPeriod / FundFDRIDRNEURNEUR%%Year 202400182,555,176ERDF00162,524,098ESF00231,078Cumulative from start of the programming period 62,480,75113011,984,5260.200.95ERDF22,392,31911011,058,0590.351.60ESF488,43219844,5240.020.15EMFF00181,9430.001.18Irregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulent3. Cohesion and Fisheries Policy - Programming period 2014-2020N.ratioN.%N.%N.%AT000%3%133%00%267%N.ratioN.%N.%N.%AT000%1%133%00%267%Incidence of riclassification (3)Incidence of fraud (4)DismissalEstablished fraudPending suspected fraud(4) Percentage of irregularities that, at any moment in their lifetime, were classified as fraudulent over the total number of irregularities reportedFor further explanations about these data, please see the PIF Report 20244: Follow-up to suspected fraud - Irregularities initially reported during 2014-2018 (Common Agricultural Policy)(1)Reclassification (2)Incidence of riclassification (3)Incidence of fraud (4)DismissalEstablished fraudPending suspected fraud(1) The irregularities that were reported and then cancelled are not included in this analysis(2) Number of irregularities that, at any moment in their lifetime, have been reclassified from administrative to fraudulent over the number of administrative irregularities that have never been reclassified.  (3) Percentage of irregularities that have been reclassified from administrative to fraudulent over the total number of fraudulent irregularities (including the reclassified and the ones that have been classified as fraudulent since the beginning) 4: Follow-up to suspected fraud - Irregularities initially reported during 2014-2018 (Cohesion and Fisheries Policy) (1)PP 2007-2013 PP 2014-2020Reclassification (2) 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Poland – Polska 

93 

OWNRES / gross TORNEURNEUR%Established and estimated1210,832,48113011,241,9411.43%1. Traditional Own ResourcesReporting Year 2024Irregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulentFDRIDRNEURNEUR%%Support to agriculture (SA)12805,321211,796,0910.020.05Rural Development (RD)18815,10552311,378,6530.060.90SA/RD003256,007TOTAL301,620,42654713,430,7510.030.28FDRIDRNEURNEUR%%Support to agriculture (SA)406,721,184204139,815,4300.040.82Rural Development (RD)502,450,9801,71741,403,4190.040.61SA/RD3142,2635465,119TOTAL939,314,4271,926181,683,9690.040.76Irregularities reported 2020-2024FundIrregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulentIrregularities reported in 2024FundIrregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulent2. Natural ResourcesPeriod / FundFDRIDRNEURNEUR%%Year 20245976,341716134,692,163CF00241,550,310ERDF2802,693503105,551,593ESF3173,64818427,140,343EMFF005449,917Cumulative from start of the programming period 15259,789,7613,788606,073,2540.080.77CF74,176,63418129,548,7740.020.13ERDF6440,778,3392,470476,172,3700.101.13ESF7814,124,9701,11998,912,9500.110.77EMFF3709,818181,439,1600.130.273. Cohesion and Fisheries Policy - Programming period 2014-2020Irregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulentPeriod / FundYear 2024ERDF00142,122ESF+00234,3044. Cohesion and Fisheries Policy - Programming period 2021-2027Irregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulentN.ratioN.%N.%N.%PL80.012%31%10226%4612%24963%N.ratioN.%N.%N.%PL470.0115%9%8226%4815%18859%Incidence of riclassification (3)Incidence of fraud (4)DismissalEstablished fraudPending suspected fraud(4) Percentage of irregularities that, at any moment in their lifetime, were classified as fraudulent over the total number of irregularities reportedFor further explanations about these data, please see the PIF Report 20244: Follow-up to suspected fraud - Irregularities initially reported during 2014-2018 (Common Agricultural Policy)(1)Reclassification (2)Incidence of riclassification (3)Incidence of fraud (4)DismissalEstablished fraudPending suspected fraud(1) The irregularities that were reported and then cancelled are not included in this analysis(2) Number of irregularities that, at any moment in their lifetime, have been reclassified from administrative to fraudulent over the number of administrative irregularities that have never been reclassified.  (3) Percentage of irregularities that have been reclassified from administrative to fraudulent over the total number of fraudulent irregularities (including the reclassified and the ones that have been classified as fraudulent since the beginning) 4: Follow-up to suspected fraud - Irregularities initially reported during 2014-2018 (Cohesion and Fisheries Policy) (1)PP 2007-2013 PP 2014-2020Reclassification (2) 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Portugal 

94 

OWNRES / gross TORNEURNEUR%Established and estimated00344,5290.01%1. Traditional Own ResourcesReporting Year 2024Irregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulentFDRIDRNEURNEUR%%Support to agriculture (SA)3103,611401,349,6480.010.16Rural Development (RD)2139,3371706,720,5680.021.11TOTAL5242,9482108,070,2160.020.55FDRIDRNEURNEUR%%Support to agriculture (SA)5382,7701786,685,7070.010.16Rural Development (RD)9976,9601,10535,429,1300.041.27TOTAL141,359,7311,28342,114,8380.020.60Irregularities reported 2020-20242. Natural ResourcesIrregularities reported in 2024FundIrregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulentFundIrregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulentPeriod / FundFDRIDRNEURNEUR%%Year 20241443,399,234859,063,425CF1192,5494131,126ERDF639,919,889638,512,008ESF62,925,6704138,901EMFF1361,12614281,390Cumulative from start of the programming period 7389,311,20438738,983,4490.380.17CF1192,549222,346,7240.010.08ERDF3278,955,46119724,624,0940.620.19ESF379,672,620996,613,4490.130.09EMFF3490,574695,399,1820.121.383. Cohesion and Fisheries Policy - Programming period 2014-2020Irregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulentPeriod / FundYear 2024ERDF27,535,68000Irregularities reported as fraudulent4. Cohesion and Fisheries Policy - Programming period 2021-2027Irregularities not reported as fraudulentN.ratioN.%N.%N.%PT100.0134%2%13%621%2276%N.ratioN.%N.%N.%PT10.002%5%00%00%48100%Incidence of riclassification (3)Incidence of fraud (4)DismissalEstablished fraudPending suspected fraud(4) Percentage of irregularities that, at any moment in their lifetime, were classified as fraudulent over the total number of irregularities reportedFor further explanations about these data, please see the PIF Report 20244: Follow-up to suspected fraud - Irregularities initially reported during 2014-2018 (Common Agricultural Policy)(1)Reclassification (2)Incidence of riclassification (3)Incidence of fraud (4)DismissalEstablished fraudPending suspected fraud(1) The irregularities that were reported and then cancelled are not included in this analysis(2) Number of irregularities that, at any moment in their lifetime, have been reclassified from administrative to fraudulent over the number of administrative irregularities that have never been reclassified.  (3) Percentage of irregularities that have been reclassified from administrative to fraudulent over the total number of fraudulent irregularities (including the reclassified and the ones that have been classified as fraudulent since the beginning) 4: Follow-up to suspected fraud - Irregularities initially reported during 2014-2018 (Cohesion and Fisheries Policy) (1)PP 2007-2013 PP 2014-2020Reclassification (2) 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Romania – România 

95 

OWNRES / gross TORNEURNEUR%Established and estimated13307,206413,938,1201.12%1. Traditional Own ResourcesReporting Year 2024Irregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulentFDRIDRNEURNEUR%%Support to agriculture (SA)923,584,903391,985,4960.180.10Rural Development (RD)633,184,46827826,127,0150.302.48TOTAL1556,769,37131728,112,5110.220.93FDRIDRNEURNEUR%%Support to agriculture (SA)38114,022,04532522,956,4670.140.23Rural Development (RD)25827,368,6781,860131,004,1210.482.32SA/RD137,96700TOTAL64041,428,6902185153,960,5880.270.99Irregularities reported in 2024FundIrregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulentIrregularities reported 2020-2024FundIrregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulent2. Natural ResourcesPeriod / FundFDRIDRNEURNEUR%%Year 2024128240,177,776318154,731,598CF18178,831,4854077,369,218ERDF7854,966,20914162,705,782ESF204,762,66512211,741,269EMFF121,617,417152,915,329Cumulative from start of the programming period 215324,633,3021,269411,415,1051.361.72CF26196,014,849153159,343,5053.002.44ERDF130117,937,366590213,318,5260.961.73ESF479,063,67047331,369,3080.190.65EMFF121,617,417537,383,7661.315.98Irregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulent3. Cohesion and Fisheries Policy - Programming period 2014-2020Period / FundYear 2024ERDF94,089,996004. Cohesion and Fisheries Policy - Programming period 2021-2027Irregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulentN.ratioN.%N.%N.%RO400.018%14%214%17134%30461%N.ratioN.%N.%N.%RO110.016%10%6734%74%12563%Incidence of riclassification (3)Incidence of fraud (4)DismissalEstablished fraudPending suspected fraud(4) Percentage of irregularities that, at any moment in their lifetime, were classified as fraudulent over the total number of irregularities reportedFor further explanations about these data, please see the PIF Report 20244: Follow-up to suspected fraud - Irregularities initially reported during 2014-2018 (Common Agricultural Policy)(1)Reclassification (2)Incidence of riclassification (3)Incidence of fraud (4)DismissalEstablished fraudPending suspected fraud(1) The irregularities that were reported and then cancelled are not included in this analysis(2) Number of irregularities that, at any moment in their lifetime, have been reclassified from administrative to fraudulent over the number of administrative irregularities that have never been reclassified.  (3) Percentage of irregularities that have been reclassified from administrative to fraudulent over the total number of fraudulent irregularities (including the reclassified and the ones that have been classified as fraudulent since the beginning) 4: Follow-up to suspected fraud - Irregularities initially reported during 2014-2018 (Cohesion and Fisheries Policy) (1)PP 2007-2013 PP 2014-2020Reclassification (2) 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Slovenia – Slovenija 

96 

OWNRES / gross TORNEURNEUR%Established and estimated173,204273,267,8151.49%1. Traditional Own ResourcesReporting Year 2024Irregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulentFDRIDRNEURNEUR%%Support to agriculture (SA)00224,5170.000.02Rural Development (RD)008178,2370.000.11TOTAL0010202,7540.000.06FDRIDRNEURNEUR%%Support to agriculture (SA)009224,2780.000.03Rural Development (RD)2116,502391,251,0830.020.18TOTAL2116,502481,475,3610.010.11Irregularities reported in 2024FundIrregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulentIrregularities reported 2020-2024FundIrregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulent2. Natural ResourcesPeriod / FundFDRIDRNEURNEUR%%Year 20247681,535194,112,665CF3579,525266,650ERDF397,060153,985,486ESF14,950260,529Cumulative from start of the programming period 203,674,134729,517,5110.110.29CF6756,73171,954,8070.080.21ERDF92,212,498466,344,4870.130.38ESF5704,905191,218,2170.100.17Irregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulent3. Cohesion and Fisheries Policy - Programming period 2014-2020N.ratioN.%N.%N.%SI000%11%00%218%982%N.ratioN.%N.%N.%SI000%11%741%318%741%Incidence of riclassification (3)Incidence of fraud (4)DismissalEstablished fraudPending suspected fraud(4) Percentage of irregularities that, at any moment in their lifetime, were classified as fraudulent over the total number of irregularities reportedFor further explanations about these data, please see the PIF Report 20244: Follow-up to suspected fraud - Irregularities initially reported during 2014-2018 (Common Agricultural Policy)(1)Reclassification (2)Incidence of riclassification (3)Incidence of fraud (4)DismissalEstablished fraudPending suspected fraud(1) The irregularities that were reported and then cancelled are not included in this analysis(2) Number of irregularities that, at any moment in their lifetime, have been reclassified from administrative to fraudulent over the number of administrative irregularities that have never been reclassified.  (3) Percentage of irregularities that have been reclassified from administrative to fraudulent over the total number of fraudulent irregularities (including the reclassified and the ones that have been classified as fraudulent since the beginning) 4: Follow-up to suspected fraud - Irregularities initially reported during 2014-2018 (Cohesion and Fisheries Policy) (1)PP 2007-2013 PP 2014-2020Reclassification (2) 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Slovakia – Slovensko 

97 

OWNRES / gross TORNEURNEUR%Established and estimated2184,37816664,414-1.33%1. Traditional Own ResourcesReporting Year 2024Irregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulentFDRIDRNEURNEUR%%Support to agriculture (SA)00363,3200.000.02Rural Development (RD)61,343,505253,051,1190.591.35SA/RD235,2391203,289,701TOTAL81,378,7441486,404,1400.221.01FDRIDRNEURNEUR%%Support to agriculture (SA)344,66729703,3640.000.03Rural Development (RD)255,809,04722723,394,1430.672.71SA/RD92,089,1762105,755,264TOTAL377,942,89046629,852,7710.271.01FundIrregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulentIrregularities reported 2020-20242. Natural ResourcesIrregularities reported in 2024FundIrregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulentPeriod / FundFDRIDRNEURNEUR%%Year 2024167,504,25010726,316,939CF31,342,25283,043,146ERDF105,707,9767021,288,588ESF3454,022271,102,393EMFF002882,812Cumulative from start of the programming period 76154,062,705665476,183,4351.103.39CF1885,168,333124238,865,9332.135.99ERDF4162,603,447432204,758,0170.882.88ESF176,290,92510231,418,0200.211.06EMFF0071,141,4650.0023.053. Cohesion and Fisheries Policy - Programming period 2014-2020Irregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulentN.ratioN.%N.%N.%SK70.0421%18%412%26%2882%N.ratioN.%N.%N.%SK150.0111%11%1814%2922%8564%Incidence of riclassification (3)Incidence of fraud (4)DismissalEstablished fraudPending suspected fraud(4) Percentage of irregularities that, at any moment in their lifetime, were classified as fraudulent over the total number of irregularities reportedFor further explanations about these data, please see the PIF Report 20244: Follow-up to suspected fraud - Irregularities initially reported during 2014-2018 (Common Agricultural Policy)(1)Reclassification (2)Incidence of riclassification (3)Incidence of fraud (4)DismissalEstablished fraudPending suspected fraud(1) The irregularities that were reported and then cancelled are not included in this analysis(2) Number of irregularities that, at any moment in their lifetime, have been reclassified from administrative to fraudulent over the number of administrative irregularities that have never been reclassified.  (3) Percentage of irregularities that have been reclassified from administrative to fraudulent over the total number of fraudulent irregularities (including the reclassified and the ones that have been classified as fraudulent since the beginning) 4: Follow-up to suspected fraud - Irregularities initially reported during 2014-2018 (Cohesion and Fisheries Policy) (1)PP 2007-2013 PP 2014-2020Reclassification (2) 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Finland – Suomi-Finland 

98 

OWNRES / gross TORNEURNEUR%Established and estimated138,771482,791,6041.54%1. Traditional Own ResourcesReporting Year 2024Irregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulentFDRIDRNEURNEUR%%Support to agriculture (SA)004141,7220.000.03Rural Development (RD)0012321,4000.000.13SA/RD00132,169TOTAL0017495,2910.000.06FDRIDRNEURNEUR%%Support to agriculture (SA)1035897,0740.000.03Rural Development (RD)133,624692,784,9790.000.17SA/RD327,458357,778TOTAL561,0821073,739,8310.000.09Irregularities reported in 2024FundIrregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulent2. Natural ResourcesIrregularities reported 2020-2024FundIrregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulentPeriod / FundFDRIDRNEURNEUR%%Year 2024009329,682ERDF006267,497ESF00362,185Cumulative from start of the programming period 00673,259,2450.000.21ERDF00432,604,5340.000.29ESF0016344,6850.000.06EMFF008310,0260.000.42Irregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulent3. Cohesion and Fisheries Policy - Programming period 2014-2020N.ratioN.%N.%N.%FI00NA00NA0NA0NAN.ratioN.%N.%N.%FI0006%125%00%375%Incidence of riclassification (3)Incidence of fraud (4)DismissalEstablished fraudPending suspected fraud(4) Percentage of irregularities that, at any moment in their lifetime, were classified as fraudulent over the total number of irregularities reportedFor further explanations about these data, please see the PIF Report 20244: Follow-up to suspected fraud - Irregularities initially reported during 2014-2018 (Common Agricultural Policy)(1)Reclassification (2)Incidence of riclassification (3)Incidence of fraud (4)DismissalEstablished fraudPending suspected fraud(1) The irregularities that were reported and then cancelled are not included in this analysis(2) Number of irregularities that, at any moment in their lifetime, have been reclassified from administrative to fraudulent over the number of administrative irregularities that have never been reclassified.  (3) Percentage of irregularities that have been reclassified from administrative to fraudulent over the total number of fraudulent irregularities (including the reclassified and the ones that have been classified as fraudulent since the beginning) 4: Follow-up to suspected fraud - Irregularities initially reported during 2014-2018 (Cohesion and Fisheries Policy) (1)PP 2007-2013 PP 2014-2020Reclassification (2) 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Sweden – Sverige 

99 

OWNRES / gross TORNEURNEUR%Established and estimated1100,54724620,923,4642.95%1. Traditional Own ResourcesReporting Year 2024Irregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulentFDRIDRNEURNEUR%%Rural Development (RD)11,000,86812357,2250.510.18TOTAL11,000,86812357,2250.110.04FDRIDRNEURNEUR%%Support to agriculture (SA)118,7118140,3700.000.00Rural Development (RD)21,013,815441,314,6710.070.09SA/RD00122,203TOTAL31,032,526531,477,2440.020.03Irregularities reported 2020-2024FundIrregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulent2. Natural ResourcesIrregularities reported in 2024FundIrregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulentPeriod / FundFDRIDRNEURNEUR%%Year 2024007238,644ERDF005199,617ESF00113,426EMFF00125,601Cumulative from start of the programming period 101,275,016904,992,5850.060.25ERDF121,659371,317,2760.000.13ESF4437,134321,321,3150.050.15EMFF5816,223212,353,9940.832.403. Cohesion and Fisheries Policy - Programming period 2014-2020Irregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulentPeriod / FundYear 2024ERDF00228,0464. Cohesion and Fisheries Policy - Programming period 2021-2027Irregularities reported as fraudulentIrregularities not reported as fraudulentN.ratioN.%N.%N.%SE000%3%00%00%2100%N.ratioN.%N.%N.%SE000%5%120%00%480%Incidence of riclassification (3)Incidence of fraud (4)DismissalEstablished fraudPending suspected fraud(4) Percentage of irregularities that, at any moment in their lifetime, were classified as fraudulent over the total number of irregularities reportedFor further explanations about these data, please see the PIF Report 20244: Follow-up to suspected fraud - Irregularities initially reported during 2014-2018 (Common Agricultural Policy)(1)Reclassification (2)Incidence of riclassification (3)Incidence of fraud (4)DismissalEstablished fraudPending suspected fraud(1) The irregularities that were reported and then cancelled are not included in this analysis(2) Number of irregularities that, at any moment in their lifetime, have been reclassified from administrative to fraudulent over the number of administrative irregularities that have never been reclassified.  (3) Percentage of irregularities that have been reclassified from administrative to fraudulent over the total number of fraudulent irregularities (including the reclassified and the ones that have been classified as fraudulent since the beginning) 4: Follow-up to suspected fraud - Irregularities initially reported during 2014-2018 (Cohesion and Fisheries Policy) (1)PP 2007-2013 PP 2014-2020Reclassification (2) 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
ANNEXES 

100 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Annex 1 

101 

NEURNEURNEURNEURNEURBE453                 62,783,924     588                 115,102,040   548                 455,896,029   428                 47,859,323     287                 49,292,962     BG7                     3,882,557       29                   2,499,505       12                   2,094,704       20                   1,340,759       19                   4,551,319       CZ60                   4,932,226       65                   3,011,133       84                   7,399,937       103                 6,727,195       91                   6,895,549       DK68                   5,362,692       102                 4,366,480       100                 3,846,094       157                 6,562,366       97                   5,722,054       DE1,700              167,456,835   1,573              84,692,012     1,939              139,982,187   2,368              208,653,646   2,196              127,603,400   EE8                     1,120,169       9                     1,053,524       4                     314,252          9                     279,506          8                     3,167,555       IE19                   1,367,647       27                   1,446,990       22                   2,265,975       59                   8,065,464       98                   12,520,783     EL77                   7,168,696       32                   12,877,203     55                   9,548,780       46                   7,245,560       18                   1,392,610       ES379                 43,969,726     491                 60,663,620     532                 41,700,827     485                 60,888,896     409                 74,194,788     FR256                 39,838,612     365                 56,190,958     396                 29,834,625     492                 44,333,243     357                 43,712,157     HR23                   1,698,077       8                     944,363          24                   3,860,549       16                   1,214,961       17                   946,332          IT107                 8,369,078       103                 19,708,575     112                 22,309,017     166                 26,761,346     145                 18,157,072     CY1                     13,590            5                     160,662          6                     251,416          10                   306,068          LV28                   1,494,637       44                   3,858,643       39                   3,811,000       17                   885,274          25                   1,191,601       LT66                   5,145,936       68                   5,157,425       56                   3,730,125       57                   6,700,351       38                   1,876,538       LU1                     15,690            1                     43,171            3                     182,475          HU75                   10,646,241     31                   1,926,173       24                   2,369,858       26                   1,565,876       36                   2,827,419       MT1                     27,024            3                     468,680          2                     44,438            2                     110,246          3                     95,379            NL432                 30,869,976     494                 168,742,626   601                 70,935,430     400                 18,865,951     541                 75,445,563     AT47                   1,977,807       61                   6,642,690       76                   3,570,430       72                   4,381,186       61                   5,025,007       PL128                 12,752,910     133                 10,094,773     152                 15,622,716     156                 14,118,117     142                 22,074,422     PT14                   469,667          24                   2,962,603       41                   3,362,891       42                   1,484,263       3                     44,529            RO45                   3,027,370       45                   2,815,843       42                   3,928,061       66                   8,543,411       54                   4,245,326       SI28                   4,753,198       13                   1,135,392       18                   465,159          29                   1,383,263       28                   3,341,019       SK9                     165,408          8                     884,116          6                     435,742          14                   253,423          18                   848,792          FI42                   2,417,663       50                   12,719,789     37                   3,360,331       67                   6,387,776       49                   2,830,375       SE170                 10,910,069     193                 9,678,081       201                 9,878,891       283                 12,883,741     247                 21,024,011     EU-274,243432,623,8364,561589,700,0005,128840,728,7115,586497,746,5585,000489,515,104UK71196,403,89042649,257,59933744,356,0749210,935,6304722,048Total4,954529,027,7274,987638,957,6005,465885,084,7855,678508,682,1875,004490,237,152* Cut-off date 15/03/2025** Amounts are roundedNote: Conversion from national currencies into EUR has been made based on the exchange rate applicable on 15/03/2025 (i.e., cut-off date for the extraction).TOR: Total number of fraudulent and non-fraudulent cases with the related estimated and established amount (2020 - 2024)                                                                      MS20202021202220232024 
 
 Annex 2 

102 

NEURNEURNEURNEURNEURBE12250,862,203185100,456,60512253,846,046     4611,579,7403128,425,351BG73,882,557282,499,505101,996,129       16927,124184,246,228CZ116,122DK4136,9306350,3623113,858          3220,350DE1009,752,184604,279,480514,637,776       232,343,27127414,978,051EE61,032,34681,033,8103267,805          9279,50683,167,555IE5360,3281100,366EL303,732,1631110,674,006458,677,543       447,205,401161,230,631ES3714,234,3713719,109,996252,820,562       357,277,089121,293,196FR4623,753,6418628,250,3258712,233,305     813,540,799687,107,711HR131,216,726228,514113,521,016       6557,2203145,836IT192,583,8771813,385,674326,651,853       5816,764,2314610,039,602CY113,5902112,602          4225,7476202,120LV12773,63591,043,536398,255            228,604LT414,275,529463,837,216332,812,294       296,078,879191,505,074LUHU8131,9001123,9564186,587          19,8522145,634MTNL91,333,377514,406,9432295,846          AT3139,13344,203,383459,719            5215,150118,403PL322,617,937251,540,904434,913,640       272,638,3001210,832,481PT3120,50241,065,612152,148,461       1332,031RO9233,78510605,35462,209,573       8145,63813307,206SI71,358,8071565,8214694,523173,204SK340,680337,131136,241            312,4422184,378FI3153,380186,187            4101,359138,771SE2100,1091100,547EU-27521122,826,100552207,628,211503107,725,30040660,956,90553784,262,329UK716,537,83724,694,161Total528139,363,937554212,322,372503107,725,30040660,956,90553784,262,329* Cut-off date 15/03/2025** Amounts are roundedTOR: Total number of fraudulent cases with the related estimated and established amount (2020 - 2024)                                              MS20202021202220232024 
 
 
Annex 3 

103 

NEURNEURNEURNEURNEURBE33111,921,72040314,645,435426402,049,98338236,279,58325620,867,611BG10298,5754413,6351305,091CZ604,932,226642,995,010847,399,9371036,727,195916,895,549DK645,225,763964,016,119973,732,2361576,562,366945,501,704DE1,600157,704,6511,51380,412,5321,888135,344,4112,345206,310,3751,922112,625,349EE287,823119,714146,447IE141,007,319261,346,624222,265,975598,065,4649812,520,783EL473,436,533212,203,19810871,237240,1592161,979ES34229,735,35545441,553,62450738,880,26545053,611,80739772,901,592FR21016,084,97127927,940,63330917,601,32041140,792,44428936,604,446HR10481,3516915,85013339,53310657,74114800,496IT885,785,201856,322,9018015,657,1641089,997,115998,117,470CY348,060225,6684103,948LV16721,002352,815,108363,712,74515856,669251,191,601LT25870,407221,320,20923917,83128621,47219371,464LU115,690143,1713182,475HU6710,514,341301,802,217202,183,271251,556,024342,681,785MT127,0243468,680244,4382110,246395,379NL42329,536,599489154,335,68359970,639,58440018,865,95154175,445,563AT441,838,674572,439,307723,510,711674,166,036605,006,604PL9610,134,9741088,553,86910910,709,07612911,479,81713011,241,941PT11349,165201,896,991261,214,430411,152,232344,529RO362,793,586352,210,489361,718,488588,397,773413,938,120SI213,394,39112569,57118465,15925688,740273,267,815SK6124,7295846,9855399,50111240,98216664,414FI392,264,2835012,719,789363,274,143636,286,417482,791,604SE16810,809,9591939,678,0812019,878,89128312,883,74124620,923,464EU-273,722309,797,7364,009382,071,7894,625733,003,4115,180436,789,6534,463405,252,776UK70479,866,05342444,563,43833744,356,0749210,935,6304722,048Total4,426389,663,7904,433426,635,2274,962777,359,4855,272447,725,2824,467405,974,823* Cut-off date 15/03/2025** Amounts are roundedTOR: Total number of non-fraudulent cases with the related estimated and established amount (2020 - 2024)                                                MS20202021202220232024 
 
Annex 4 

104 

OWNRES established and estimated amountOWNRES established and estimated amount as a % in amount gross TOR collectedOWNRES established and estimated amountOWNRES established and estimated amount as a % in amount gross TOR collectedOWNRES established and estimated amountOWNRES established and estimated amount as a % in amount gross TOR collectedEUR%EUR%EUR%BE49,292,962                      1.48%28,425,3510.85%20,867,6110.63%BG4,551,319                        2.70%4,246,2282.52%305,0910.18%CZ6,895,549                        1.53%6,895,5491.53%DK5,722,054                        1.18%220,3500.05%5,501,7041.13%DE127,603,400                    2.38%14,978,0510.28%112,625,3492.10%EE3,167,555                        7.21%3,167,5557.21%IE12,520,783                      2.18%12,520,7832.18%EL1,392,610                        0.39%1,230,6310.34%161,9790.05%ES74,194,788                      2.87%1,293,1960.05%72,901,5922.82%FR43,712,157                      1.68%7,107,7110.27%36,604,4461.41%HR946,332                           1.13%145,8360.17%800,4960.95%IT18,157,072                      0.60%10,039,6020.33%8,117,4700.27%CY306,068                           0.51%202,1200.34%103,9480.17%LV1,191,601                        1.97%1,191,6011.97%LT1,876,538                        1.53%1,505,0741.23%371,4640.30%LU182,475                           0.94%182,4750.94%HU2,827,419                        0.92%145,6340.05%2,681,7850.87%MT95,379                             0.37%95,3790.37%NL75,445,563                      2.15%75,445,5632.15%AT5,025,007                        1.80%18,4030.01%5,006,6041.80%PL22,074,422                      1.43%10,832,4810.70%11,241,9410.73%PT44,529                             0.01%44,5290.01%RO4,245,326                        1.12%307,2060.08%3,938,1201.04%SI3,341,019                        1.49%73,2040.03%3,267,8151.45%SK848,792                           -1.33%184,378-0.29%664,414-1.04%FI2,830,375                        1.54%38,7710.02%2,791,6041.52%SE21,024,011                      2.95%100,5470.01%20,923,4642.94%EU-27489,515,1041.83%84,262,3290.31%405,252,7761.51%UK722,04834.47%722,04834.47%Total490,237,1521.83%84,262,3290.31%405,974,8231.52%* Cut-off date 15/03/2025** Amounts are rounded    TOR: Percentage of the financial impact of OWNRES cases to the collected and made available TOR (gross) in 2024 per Member StateMSAllFraudulentNon-fraudulent 
 
Annex 5 

105 

Established amountRecovered amountRREstablished amountRecovered amountRREUREUR%EUREUR%BE36,731,07930,838,81784%16,302,81511,512,45071%BG679,16444,4917%4,321,924351,5158%CZ6,727,1956,621,53498%6,895,5496,768,87198%DK6,562,3666,282,61796%5,722,0545,214,98691%DE208,653,646192,264,43292%127,577,141111,313,93187%EEIE8,065,4646,822,32085%12,520,7836,507,88052%EL4,374,707510,55012%482,568327,14068%ES58,030,33851,082,19988%74,194,78863,711,24186%FR43,949,40434,518,35079%42,765,64530,852,88472%HR765,299657,74186%800,496789,71699%IT25,911,61211,443,71344%18,026,2784,402,06524%CY251,416192,71077%306,06895,19531%LV873,508839,03196%1,191,6011,191,601100%LT4,078,915432,82911%625,480349,76556%LU182,475182,475100%HU1,565,876966,44662%2,827,4191,034,77537%MT110,246110,246100%95,37995,379100%NL18,830,94111,097,10159%75,269,95458,779,36778%AT4,381,1864,248,03697%5,025,0074,414,16188%PL8,506,9448,001,33294%13,503,99813,107,59097%PT1,484,2631,484,263100%44,52944,529100%RO8,530,8703,154,45137%4,245,3263,828,20990%SI1,383,2631,383,263100%3,267,8153,267,815100%SK240,982232,51496%848,792664,41478%FI6,387,7766,351,72899%2,830,3751,885,67767%SE12,883,74112,044,02793%20,923,46419,986,32696%EU-27469,960,200391,624,74283%440,797,724350,679,95780%UK10,935,6308,894,43581%722,04891,77313%Total480,895,830400,519,17783%441,519,772350,771,72979%* Cut-off date 15/03/2025** Amounts are roundedTOR: Recovery rates (RR) per cut-off date MS20232024 
 
Annex 6 

106 

Release for free circulationTransitCustoms warehousingInward processingOtherRelease for free circulationTransitCustoms warehousingInward processingOtherBE3,976,20024,449,15218,949,173478,626          605,626488,578345,608BG3,995,442229,39521,391305,091CZ6,882,49513,054DK220,3505,152,97150,981            228,64932,03337,070DE14,967,34910,702            90,238,122301,947          11,793,3357,803,8452,488,100EE3,167,555       IE10,969,96877,9201,459,98012,915EL398,765831,866          161,979ES1,293,19630,460,22459,845            20,213,21322,157,60010,710FR4,796,29843,603753,878442,9411,070,991       30,652,619199,713          410,1941,314,4014,027,519HR145,836784,54915,947IT10,029,17010,432            8,076,44026,98714,043CY202,12059,95643,992LV1,176,47915,122            LT830,092674,982          347,70423,760            LU182,475HU145,6342,681,785MT95,379NL56,352,3251,343,051       11,833,8795,790,529125,779AT18,4033,711,9871,229,26865,349PL8,678,84860,908440,2051,652,52010,612,19169,179547,52613,045PT14,27913,559            16,692RO291,04616,1603,880,26157,859SI73,204            3,267,815SK184,378664,414FI38,7712,742,01149,593SE100,54711,794,785110,7808,885,368132,531EU-2749,336,51724,945,0522,045,5662,095,4615,839,732300,217,4782,486,60345,402,71449,856,6217,289,360UK645,74456,48619,817Total49,336,51724,945,0522,045,5662,095,4615,839,732300,863,2222,486,60345,402,71449,913,1077,309,178* Cut-off date 15/03/2025** Amounts are roundedTOR: Estimated and established amount per customs procedure per Member State (2024)MSFraudulentNon-fraudulent 
 
 
Annex 7 

107 

Release for free circulationTransitCustoms warehousingInward processingOtherRelease for free circulationTransitCustoms warehousingInward processingOtherBE283189485410                   BG10711CZ901DK3832612                     DE27311,522183321436                   EE8IE832121                     EL1332ES1233744511                     FR492121425315876                     HR3131IT4519711                     CY631LV241LT811145LU3HU234MT3NL28995101524                     AT15523                     PL4161127111                     PT111                     RO121401SI127SK216FI1462SE1240123                     EU-2746217163393,59218946215169UK211Total46217163393,59418946215270* Cut-off date 15/03/2025TOR: Customs procedure by number of cases per Member State (2024)MSFraudulentNon-fraudulent 
 
 
Annex 8 

108 

AllRelease controlsPost-release controlsInspections by anti-fraud servicesTax auditVoluntary admissionOtherAllRelease controlsPost-release controlsInspections by anti-fraud servicesTax auditVoluntary admissionOtherBE28731121162256134798530BG191887311CZ919146027DK97321944528219DE2,1962741019170121,9221138931059126946EE888IE9898536628185EL1816781211ES4091221453971099318134403FR357684211141289123847210HR173314410IT145464261699932535CY1061414211LV2525817LT3819191919LU3312HU362234304MT3312NL541541117336871AT6111601501161PL1421261411301011172PT3321RO541321141437SI28112731653SK1822162824FI49114829136SE24711246100146EU-275,0005371082571595174,4638122,061219754502115UK441111Total5,0045371082571595174,4678122,062220754503116* Cut-off date 15/03/2025TOR: Method of detection by number of cases per Member State (2024)MSNFraudulentNon-fraudulent 
 
Annex 9 

109 

AllRelease controlsPost-release controlsInspections by anti-fraud servicesTax auditVoluntary admissionOtherAllRelease controlsPost-release controlsInspections by anti-fraud servicesTax auditVoluntary admissionOtherBE49,292,96228,425,351654,943        10,539          27,692,560   67,309          20,867,6114,759,3741,745,3162,108,3711,059,28511,195,265BG4,551,3194,246,228250,786        2,470,868     1,524,574     305,091305,091CZ6,895,5496,895,549212,9745,037,2751,645,300DK5,722,054220,35028,335          192,015        5,501,7043,223,6261,102,01537,8251,138,238DE127,603,40014,978,051593,488        5,989,470     8,114,181     196,896        84,016          112,625,3494,629,40945,453,780582,96741,374,77218,606,7941,977,626EE3,167,5553,167,5553,167,555     IE12,520,78312,520,783187,4462,459,786826,6635,594,1203,342,340110,428EL1,392,6101,230,631942,276        273,538        14,816          161,97921,367140,612ES74,194,7881,293,196104,629        17,513          157,646        1,013,408     72,901,59220,457,04125,802,7982,793,09121,871,8411,896,52180,300FR43,712,1577,107,7112,991,382     748,054        2,876,030     492,245        36,604,4468,648,0498,614,14518,304,6051,037,647HR946,332145,836145,836        800,49684,187716,309IT18,157,07210,039,602596,228        7,371,573     2,071,801     8,117,4701,998,2572,352,1333,556,364210,716CY306,068202,12031,922          158,893        11,305          103,94847,18843,99212,768LV1,191,6011,191,601409,310782,291LT1,876,5381,505,0741,505,074     371,464371,464LU182,475182,475142,42340,052HU2,827,419145,634145,634        2,681,7852,496,418185,367MT95,37995,37961,84833,531NL75,445,56375,445,5631,760,44755,530,19918,144,79110,126AT5,025,00718,40318,403          5,006,60429,2792,953,12725,58377,1391,896,36425,113PL22,074,42210,832,481298,798        202,314        8,678,848     1,652,520     11,241,941396,10510,300,206469,88775,743PT44,52944,52930,25014,279RO4,245,326307,20638,471          268,735        3,938,120172,9903,765,130SI3,341,01973,20473,204          3,267,81545,8261,346,4751,019,533855,981SK848,792184,378184,378        664,414101,265197,021227,086139,043FI2,830,37538,77138,771          2,791,6041,643,250829,287319,067SE21,024,011100,547100,547        20,923,4642,211,96518,711,499EU-27489,515,10484,262,32910,018,69817,629,64952,915,5701,013,408196,8962,488,106405,252,77650,639,959186,715,84733,735,49668,917,87250,304,81014,938,791UK722,048722,04819,81715,46956,486630,275Total490,237,15284,262,32910,018,69817,629,64952,915,5701,013,408196,8962,488,106405,974,82350,639,959186,735,66533,750,96568,917,87250,361,29615,569,066* Cut-off date 15/03/2025** Amounts are roundedTOR: Method of detection by established and estimated amounts per Member State (2024)MSTotalFraudulentNon-fraudulent 
 
Annex 10 

110 

Established amount, EURRecovered amount, EURRR, %Established amount, EURRecovered amount, EURRR, %BE1,509,279874,06358%14,793,53710,638,38772%BG4,016,833351,5159%305,0910%CZ6,895,5496,768,87198%DK220,350220,350100%5,501,7044,994,63691%DE14,978,0511,320,2329%112,599,090109,993,69998%EEIE12,520,7836,507,88052%EL320,589305,77395%161,97921,36713%ES1,293,196529,75741%72,901,59263,181,48487%FR6,161,1994,594,07875%36,604,44626,258,80772%HR800,496789,71699%IT9,908,8081,525,30215%8,117,4702,876,76335%CY202,12052,78326%103,94842,41141%LV1,191,6011,191,601100%LT254,0162,0611%371,464347,70494%LU182,475182,475100%HU145,634128,57588%2,681,785906,20034%MT95,37995,379100%NL75,269,95458,779,36778%AT18,40318,403100%5,006,6044,395,75888%PL8,678,8488,678,848100%4,825,1504,428,74292%PT44,52944,529100%RO307,20693,60430%3,938,1203,734,60595%SI3,267,8153,267,815100%SK184,3780%664,414664,414100%FI38,7714,53112%2,791,6041,881,14667%SE20,923,46419,986,32696%EU-2748,237,68218,699,87439%392,560,043331,980,08285%UK722,04891,77313%Total48,237,68218,699,87439%393,282,090332,071,85584%* Cut-off date 15/03/2025** Amounts are roundedTOR: Recovery rates (RR) per Member State in 2024MSFraudulentNon-fraudulent 
 
 Annex 11 

111 

Total cases** Cases assessed twice (AI)  Total (amounts not counted twice) N*EURNEURNEURNEURNNEURBE1                     2,051,956       1                     2,051,956       CZ1                     450,790          2                     431,496          3                     882,286          DK1                     132,560          1                     132,560          DE1                     164,940          4                     10,869,903     5                     4                     11,034,843     EL1                     101,428          4                     10,617,145     1                     439,562          6                     2                     11,158,135     ES5                     1,655,236       3                     453,342          8                     2,108,577       FR1                     12,129,456     1                     1                     12,129,456     IT4                     5,117,778       7                     74,279,817     3                     1,010,866       14                   1                     80,408,462     LT1                     426,476          1                     1,172,149       2                     1                     1,598,625       HU1                     221,847          24,039            1                     245,886          NL10                   28,045,584     9                     29,380,200     6                     1,752,168       25                   3                     59,177,952     AT3                     2,240,092       3                     1,762,423       6                     4,002,515       PL3                     2,094,041       3                     2,094,041       RO3                     1,030,821       3                     1,443,460       6                     1                     2,474,281       SI1                     185,164          1                     185,164          EU-271733,651,577 44147,567,696 228,465,467 8313189,684,740 UK9751,99299751,992Total1733,651,577 53148,319,687 228,465,467 9222190,436,731 * Number of cases** Cases assessed twice are not includedTOR: Examination of write-off cases in 2024MS Acceptance  Reference to Article 13.2 considered not justified  Additional information request (AI)  Not appropriate  
 
 
 
Annex 12 

112 

CasesEstimated and established amountNEURBE525,097,684BG7229,395EE83,167,555EL2260,881FR12946,512HR230,160LT191,505,074PL7367,977RO126,992SI173,204SE1100,547EU-276531,805,981* CN code 2402 2090* Cut-off date 15/03/2025TOR: Cases of smuggled cigarettes* in 2024MS 
 
ANNEX 13 

List of abbreviations 

SA: Support to Agriculture 

RD: Rural Development 

SA/RD: Support to Agriculture/ Rural Development 

GUID: European Agricultural Guarantee and Guidance Fund – Section Guidance 

EFF: European Fisheries Fund 

EMFF: European Maritime and Fisheries Fund 

CF: Cohesion Fund 

ERDF: European Regional and Development Fund 

ESF: European Social Fund 

AMIF: Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund 

FEAD: Fund for European Aid to the most Deprived 

ISF: Internal Security Fund 

CBC: pre-accession, Cross-Border Cooperation component 

IPA: Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance 

HRD: pre-accession, Human Resources Development component 

IPARD: Instrument for Pre-Accession for Rural Development 

REGD: pre-accession, Regional Development component 

TAIB: Transition Assistance and Institution Building 

ENI: European Neighbourhood Instrument 

TIPAA: Turkey Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance 

113 

 
 
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 to the Statistical Evaluation -Irregularities reported as fraudulent by Member States and Beneficiary Countries in 2024 (1)(1) Based on data in the Irregularity Management System(IMS) as of 8/3/2025FUNDS/TYPE OF EXPENDITUREThe number of irregularities reported measures the results of Member States’ work to counter fraud and other illegal activities affecting the EU’s financial interests. Therefore, the figures should not be interpreted as indicating the level of fraud in the Countries’ territories. 
 
 
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COUNTRIESSARDSA/RDEFFEMFFCFERDFESFESF+AMIFISFHRDIPAIIIPAIIICBC-ENIAT000000000000000BE00000045,000226,5050000000BG000000165,967240,9280088,0070000CY054,8193,10200051,00000000000CZ068,17100011,343,38416,846,8172,832,06524,033000000DE69,696181,19700001,040,5621,884,884217,82598,08600000DK0115,6140000000000000EE596,7803,031,29400007,584,20200000000ES45,7623,961,5030000000000000FI000000000000000FR254,90200000856,71600000000GR43,69800000269,37500000000HR041,9640009,910,9512,239,15000000000HU0000007,231,482141,8390000000IE000000000000000IT855,19384,938510,018000000000000LT01,838,29600002,284,50041,0550000000LU000000000000000LV01,516,58000032,729141,313061,629000000MT00000060,14900000000NL134,41500000000000000PL805,321815,10500001,412,905193,9260000000PT103,611139,33700361,126192,54947,455,5692,925,6700000000RO3,584,9033,184,4680448,9101,617,417178,831,48562,894,7804,762,66500000057,645SE01,000,8680000000000000SI00000579,52597,0604,9500000000SK01,343,50535,239001,342,2525,707,976454,0220000000UK000000379,41800000000ME000000000000148,39100MK000000000000120,55000RS00000000000001,272,1630TR00000000000423877,96100TOTAL6,494,28117,377,659548,359448,9101,978,543202,232,875156,763,94113,708,509303,48798,08688,0074231,146,9021,272,16357,645FUNDS/TYPE OF EXPENDITUREAnnex to the Statistical Evaluation - Irregular amounts related to irregularities reported as fraudulent by Member States and Beneficiary Countries in 2024 (1)(1) Based on data in the Irregularity Management System(IMS) as of 8/3/2025 
 
 
 
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nnex to the Statistical Evaluation -Irregularities not reported as fraudulent by Member States and Beneficiary Countries in 2024  (1)The number of irregularities reported measures the results of Member States’ work to counter fraud and other illegal activities affecting the EU’s financial interests. Therefore, the figures should not be interpreted as indicating the level of fraud in the Countries’ territories.(1) Based on data in the Management System(IMS) as of 8/3/2025 
 
 
 
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COUNTRIESSARDSA/RDGUIDEFFEMFFCFERDFESFESF+YEIFEADAMIFISFBMVIJTFIPAIIIPAIIIHRDTAIBCBC-ENIAT51,479219,383000002,524,09831,078000000000000BE70,71287,40026,75900001,100,183774,63600015,44000000000BG441,8235,589,00200270,1841,278,5393,420,14610,633,9491,010,82573,58700111,68000032,0030000CY000000884,01611,94412,1480065,407000000000CZ193,3162,845,37100005,308,81333,458,2743,388,02610,2600016,33400000000DE1,229,6371,390,280000509,310027,126,4234,293,3620051,332321,59600000000DK579,302927,762000244,9510041,177000000000000EE01,140,794000199,0632,754,4873,707,48927,07811,32900019,460062,57400000ES5,626,6706,875,993000244,261020,510,6122,140,696016,7530000000000FI141,722321,40032,1690000267,49762,1850000039,728000000FR2,307,6084,024,09100000403,165196,061000000000000GR1,198,2812,858,76200013,6094,134,65510,122,2026,032,51901,856,331333,7850000192,0200000HR1,142,10211,823,98200001,318,9091,031,2747,836,723000000000000HU231,96311,588,84100002,758,68040,693,8862,835,273000097,5410000000IE000000039,0670000000000000IT13,879,7364,922,9944,077,580450,69500018,835,5845,765,388000000000000LT850,1883,493,01200273,90159,7995,053,0399,613,63250,604000000000000LU033,5090000000000000000000LV10,213855,587000580,179245,64812,912,28289,730000000000000MT0144,84100053,5480769,39331,306000000000000NL172,949177,331000003,161,1720000000000000PL1,796,09111,378,653256,00700449,9171,550,310105,593,71527,140,34334,3040000000000195,938PT1,349,6486,720,568000281,390131,1268,512,008138,90100261,039121,522114,4560000000RO1,985,49626,127,015004,276,5352,915,32977,386,16063,889,56512,319,9050000000000011,333SE0357,22500025,6010227,66313,42600022,301171,1690000000SI24,517178,237000066,6503,985,48660,529000000000000SK63,3203,051,1193,289,70100882,8127,274,64042,032,2861,147,823000000000000UK00000849,24107,684,4715,442,690000175,28500000000AL00000000000000007,729,2570000ME0000000000000000164,0840000MK00000000000000005,920,6960000RS00000000000000001,363,4870000TR00000000000000002,480,8515,7371,893,9612,751,0000TOTAL33,346,773107,133,1527,682,216450,6954,820,6208,587,549112,287,279428,847,32080,882,432129,4801,873,084711,563784,158402,62639,72862,57417,882,3985,7371,893,9612,751,000207,271FUNDS/TYPE OF EXPENDITUREAnnex to the Statistical Evaluation - Irregular amounts related to irregularities not reported as fraudulent by Member States and Beneficiary Countries in 2024  (1)(1) Based on data in the Irregularity Management System(IMS) as of 8/3/2025