2022 discharge: General budget of the EU - Commission

Tabled by Monika Hohlmeier, Petri Sarvamaa

Added: 109 a. Expresses strong concern about the recent case of alleged misuse of Unionfunds in contracts involving the purchase of face masks known as the “Koldo case”; is concerned that this misuse of Union funds and Uniontaxpayers’ money involved 14.6 million Euro from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and 3.1 million Euro from the EU Solidarity Fund; regrets that the EPPO received the relevant information from a private individual and not from the relevant national authority; urges Member States to report without delay to the EPPO any suspicion of misuse of Union funds in compliance with Article 24 of the EPPO Regulation; encourages the Commission to make use of external experts for audit purposes if a severe lack of capacity is identified in a Member State; notes that the alleged misuse of funds in the case was not discovered by the Commission despite having conducted audits; encourages the use of the four-eyes principle and a multiple step verification during the awarding of contracts in crisis situations if procurement procedures are not possible due to the crisis, in order to avoid possible misuse of Union funding; emphasises that the Commission should conduct in depth ex-post audits for contracts awarded without procurement procedures during crises in all concerned Member States; further notes that similar situations have occurred in other Member States including in a recently uncovered case of alleged fraud in Portugal involving ERDF funds and several cases in the Czech Republic on alleged misuse of REACT-EU funds in the purchase of medical equipment;

Wording as published by the EP, in English. PE760.600