The European Commission adopted two proposals, the Hercule III and Pericles 2020 programmes, with a budget of €110 million and €7.7 million respectively in order to protect the financial interests of the EU and Member States' budgets and fight fraud in the EU.

The Commission adopted two proposals for the Hercule III and Pericles 2020 programmes. With a budget of €110 million and €7.7 million respectively, these programmes will run for seven years from January 2014 once will be definitively adopted.

The main aim of the two adopted proposals is to protect EU financial interests until 2020. The Hercule III programme is dedicated to fighting fraud, corruption and any other illegal activities affecting the financial interests of the EU. The current Hercule programme produced important results such as 70 technical assistance projects that financed the purchase of sophisticated technical equipment for law enforcement agencies combating fraud, as well as anti-fraud training for over 5 300 law enforcement staff. On the other hand, the Pericles 2020 programme is an exchange, assistance and training programme to strengthen the protection of euro banknotes and coins in Europe and worldwide.

According to the Commission, the EU Anti-Fraud policy makes a substantial contribution to protecting the financial interests of the EU and Member States' budgets every year. It ensures that EU and national budgets are well protected, that the money is spent for its intended purposes and reaches its proper beneficiaries.