Mediaboss Marketing

28 June 2021

Rahman Ravelli Solicitors

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The European Union's fraud chief has warned that its800 billion pandemic recovery fund is at risk of abusebecause some countries will not join an EU-wide database oftransactions. Ville Itala, director general of the EuropeanCommission agency Olaf, said the stance taken by some EU statescould lead to a lack of central supervision, making it difficult tomonitor the way the money is used.

He said: "It is a huge amount of money, prevention isimportant. We see that it is a great risk, that's for sure.Because we don't have the same possibilities of following theflows of money and information and finding the final beneficiaries."

This month has seen the European Commission begin its loanprogramme, which is aimed at raising EU funds for the nextgeneration with the issuance of 20 billion of debt. This isseen as a first step towards spending the total of 800billion to help revitalise pandemic-ravaged economies. The use ofthe recovery fund is clearly going to require close monitoring inorder to prevent potential misuse of EU funds. But this isdefinitely going to be made more difficult if all member states arenot using the same database. However, requirements for individualstates to set up their own internal systems to record the use anddestination of recovery funds could well tackle some of therisk.

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