Romania has the highest number of fraud cases with EU money. Between 2006 and 2011, 225 cases from Romania were put up for judicial consideration, 43.1 percent of these cases are pending a decision, while 56.9 percent of cases have already been judged, according to the European Commission’s (EC) Anti Fraud Office (OLAF). Germany came second, with 168 cases, followed by Italy, with 112 cases.

A high percentage of Romania's fraud cases, 73.4 percent, were dismissed before trial, while 23.4 percent resulted in convictions.

The overall picture is less fraud, better monitoring and improved recovery of assets.   “The decrease in fraud against the EU budget shows that our determined efforts to tackle this problem are starting to pay off. But the fight is far from over. The Commission maintains its policy of zero-tolerance to fraud, and not one cent of taxpayers' money should be lost to fraudsters,” said Commissioner for Taxation, Customs, Audit and Anti-Fraud, Algirdas Šemeta.

Overall, fraud affecting the EU budget fell by 35 percent in 2011 compared to 2010. The figure for suspected cohesion policy fraud cases dropped by 41 percent, while reported agriculture cases fell by 66 percent in 2011 against the previous year.

The EC accounts the falls partly to “stronger measures and better controls implemented for EU funding,” but there were other factors at play, including a 'cyclical effect' in reporting and the introduction of new monitoring protocols. According to the EC, fraud affected EUR 295 million in EU funds last year, or 0.2 percent of the total budget. The recovery of funds defrauded from the EU has also improved – EUR 2 billion recovered last year.

Liam Lever, liam@romania-insider.com