NextGenerationEU, Italy first for European prosecutor’s checks on use of funds

Brussels – Italy is under special surveillance by the European Public Prosecution Office (EPPO) for the use of Recovery Fund’s money. Italy is first in the EU in terms of the number of investigations opened to verify the proper use of resources and avert possible fraud. Of the 206 investigations at the end of 2023, as many as 179 concerned Italy. These are audits, not established irregularities. Not yet at least, and it is not even certain that they will emerge. The figure emerges as the NextGenerationEU anti-pandemic recovery program, of which the Recovery Fund is part, is a new program, and this is the first time the relevant bodies have conducted audits, a legal obligation for the integrity of the EU budget. Italy, together with Spain, is the Member State that benefits most from Recovery fund money. The government in Rome has to manage and spend 191.5 billion between guarantees (68.8 billion) and loans (122.6 billion), a significant amount of resources that,t on the one hand, could be appealing to ill-intentioned people and, on the other, it could create procedural difficulties in using it for a whole new program. There is a logic, therefore, in the several controls that the EPPO carries out.

Overall, out of all the money spent in the Union, just for the first projects funded through NextGenerationEU, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office estimates a damage of more than 1.8 billion euros. It represents about 15 percent of all expenditure on fraud cases involving EU funds managed by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office during the reporting period. However, in terms of estimated damage, it corresponds to nearly 25 percent of the total. “This number can only increase in the context of the accelerated implementation of NextGenerationEU funding,” the European Public Prosecutor’s Office warned in the special report released today.

In the specific case of the anti-pandemic recovery program (value: €750 billion, including €672 billion from Recovery Fund), the use of false statements or documents, inaccurate or incomplete, or the non-disclosure of information in violation of specific obligations, were by far the most common means of deceiving public authorities. In other cases, the report continues, the frauds involved fictitious entities, with funds wired to the beneficiaries as upfront payment to meet the expenses of the initial phase of a project. In fact, these beneficiaries turned out to be sham companies or fictitious economic operators; the projects were not effectively carried out, and the funds were immediately transferred to bank accounts abroad, with a final destination in non-EU countries.It will be necessary to be careful, and there is already much attention. 

Italy, through the Guardia di Finanza and police forces, cooperates and conducts many investigations. It also explains the country’s numbers, ranked first in the EU for fraud against the EU budget. In general, the European Prosecutor’s Office notes that in terms of damage procured between VAT evasion, embezzlement, corruption, procurement-related fraud, and money laundering, Italy has only in 2023 produced crimes amounting to 7.38 billion euros, of which 5.22 only for failure to collect VAT.