ZAŠTITA PRORAČUNA EUROPSKE UNIJE DJELOVANJEM UREDA EUROPSKOG JAVNOG TUŽITELJA EPPO.

The European Commission for the protection of the budget has numerous legislative and administrative tools at its disposal, and implements the same through the Regulation on conditionality regarding the rule of law, guidelines for its implementation then activities to prevent conflicts of interest, protection measures (every euro is spent in accordance with the rules and it creates added value, the activities of the European Anti- Fraud Office (OLAF), public internal control and internal control. The EPPO started work on 1 June 2021. The Regulation establishing the European Public Prosecutor’s Office entered into force on 20 November 2017. year, and currently 22-member states are participating. The aim of this research was to show the operational activity and conducted investigations of the EPPO for the territory of the member states, and for the territory of the Republic of Croatia, through indicators of reports received, investigations conducted, damage caused, assets seized, areas where commit frauds, i.e. determine a certain typology and modes that are used in frauds tan. To obtain the results, the method of content analysis and related statistical method was used, which analyzed several groups of indicators, followed by the method of compilation and classification, which classified the analyzed content into groups. The obtained research results indicate that since the beginning of its work, the EPPO has received 2,832 reports/complaints regarding fraud with EU money and opened 576 investigations, in which the total damage was estimated at 5.4 billion euros, of which nine investigations were opened in Croatia. with an estimated damage of 30 million euros. The largest number of investigations was opened in Italy, 120, and in Bulgaria, 103. Observing the typology of punishable acts, it is clear that the most numerous were frauds related to costs not related to procurement, of which 313 were determined. The estimated damage in nine frauds in the Republic of Croatia amounts to EUR 30.6 million, and the frauds are unfortunately characterized by the involvement of local, but also high government officials. As a rule, in the course of this body’s actions, criminal offenses are recorded in bankruptcy, most often subsidy fraud, forgery of documents, abuse of position and authority, receiving and giving bribes. In conclusion, the establishment of this body can be fully justified, because in addition to a large number of open investigations, the EPPO has confirmed its work with successfully filed indictments and first verdicts against the perpetrators, as well as confiscated property benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Proračun Europske unije (27 članica na čijem području živi 448 milijuna stanovnika), od 2015. do 2022. godine, kretao se u iznosima od 106 do 170 milijardi eura, te je činio 19% BDP-a, cijeloga svijeta. Europska unija rashode u proračunu u velikoj mjeri usmjerava u razvoj, izjednačavanje razvijenosti, zaštitu životne sredine itd., i to kroz fondove (kohezijski fond, fond za regionalni razvoj, poljoprivredu i ruralni razvoj i fond za pomorstvo i ribarstvo), kojima zemljama članicama (i pristupnicama) i krajnjim korisnicima dodjeljuje sredstva. Unatoč načelima Europske unije o zakonitosti, transparentnosti i zaštite fi nancija s kojima su se pri pristupanju složile sve članice, te strogo defi niranim pravilima i procedurama pri apliciranju za potpore, sve češće dolazi do prijevara u postupcima dodjele sredstava, a time i činjenja značajne štete EU proračunu. Tako se primjerice procjenjuje da je 2015. godine, nepravilno iskorišteno 638 milijuna eura. Jedan od alata za zaštitu EU proračuna je i ustrojavanje Europskog javnog tužiteljstva (EPPO), koji je započeo s radom 1. lipnja 2021. godine. Od početka rada EPPO je zaprimio 2832 prijava/pritužbi u vezi prijevara sa EU novcem i otvorio 576 istraga, u kojima je procijenjena nastala ukupna šteta od 5,4 milijardi eura, od kojeg je broja u Hrvatskoj otvoreno devet istraga, sa procijenjenom štetom od 30 milijuna eura. Nakon godinu dana rada EPPO-a, te temeljem dostupnih izvješća o svom radu koje je dao, opravdano je istražiti operativni rad EPPP-o, te utvrditi tipologiju u istragama u zemljama sudionicama (22 zemlje) te Republici Hrvatskoj. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]