The Union has set itself the objective of establishing an area of freedom, security and justice. To achieve this goal and strengthen the trust of citizens in our institutions, the protection of the Union’s financial interests is an absolute necessity and of utmost importance. Every year, the Member States indeed lose billions of euros in revenue, inter alia value added tax (VAT), due to cross-border carousel fraud depriving the European Union of a substantial amount of its budget. In addition, hundreds of millions of European structural funds are misappropriated or misused for wrongful purposes each year.

The EPPO and OLAF shall not only co-exist, but also take advantage of their capacities, professional knowledge and the new legal options in order to become a powerful tool for combating fraud.

Differences in the criminal systems of the 22 participating Member States will certainly be a challenge for the EPPO when conducting investigations at the national level and, in particular, when using evidence obtained from other Member States. How competent courts in individual Member States react to the impact of evidence gathered in other Member States under the EPPO Regulation will be shown in practice. Surely, the sooner the EPPO starts producing some tangible results, the sooner it will be recognized by European taxpayers as an effective and efficient instrument in the protection of the European Union’s budget.