The European Parliament has adopted a report by the Budgetary Control Committee which asks the Commission and Member States to improve their efforts in the supervision of the use of European funds

Irregularities in EU spending fell from €1.024 million in 2007 to €783.2 million in 2008, but the Commission and Member States still need to step up their efforts to monitor the way EU money is used: total losses for tax fraud reached a total amount of 250,000 million euros in the EU

Improvements are needed in the areas of VAT collection, which invoicing rules have recently been simplified, the workings of the EU anti-fraud office OLAF and the process whereby governments report irregularities to the European Commission.

The need for greater transparency and measures to tackle fraud, corruption and financial crime are also stressed.  The public procurement sector is the one most open to risks of mismanagement, fraud and corruption, say MEPs. They urge the Commission to take all steps needed to establish the European Prosecutor’s Office for combating crimes affecting the financial interests of the Union, as provided for in the Lisbon Treaty.

The mission of the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) is to protect the financial interests of the European Union, to fight fraud, corruption and any other irregular activity, including misconduct within the European Institutions