The auditors conducted research in four EU countries on payments from the Cohesion Fund and agricultural subsidies, together the largest expenditures of the EU. The researchers say there is hardly any publicly available information on the extent of conflicts of interest in the management of EU spending.
There is also no clarity on the degree and scale of such conflicts. Not all irregularities are reported to Brussels, or they are detected and corrected at the national level before the Commission is asked for money.
According to current EU rules, everyone involved with EU subsidies (at EU and national level) is required to avoid conflicts of interest. If a conflict of interest is suspected or established, the relevant authority must ensure that the person concerned relinquishes those tasks.
The European Court of Auditors states that in many EU countries, signing so-called ‘self-declarations’ is the most commonly used method to avoid conflicts of interest. It has previously been shown that in many EU countries action is only taken after abuse has already occurred.
The researchers further found that in the four countries examined (Germany, Hungary, Malta, and Romania), self-declarations were not mandatory for ministers involved in decisions on EU programs and the allocation of EU subsidies.
The auditors believe that EU countries place strong emphasis on detecting conflicts of interest in their own public procurement, but insufficient attention is given to weak links in their own internal processes and procedures.