Press Release: The Commission’s 2004 annual report on the protection of EU financial interests and the fight against fraud

The European Commission on 20 July 2005 published its Annual Report 2004 on the 'Protection of the financial interests of the Communities - fight against fraud'. It presents the joint efforts made by the Commission and the Member States to protect the EU's financial interests, in what is an area of shared responsibility. The report sets out the most significant measures taken at Community and at national level to improve the protection of the European Union's financial interests. It also contains a statistical analysis of irregularities reported. This shows an increase in the number of irregularities reported by the Member States in 2004, but a general decline in their financial impact in all sectors, apart from structural measures.

European Commission: COM (2005) 323, 'Protection of the financial interests of the Communities - fight against fraud- Commission's annual report 2004' http://ec.europa.eu/comm/anti_fraud/reports/commission/2004/en.pdf

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