Compliance as a mean for the protection of the financial interests of the European Union

Udvarhelyi, Bence (2025) Compliance as a mean for the protection of the financial interests of the European Union. EUROPEAN INTEGRATION STUDIES, 21 (1 (SE)). pp. 191-212. ISSN 1588-6735

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Abstract

The protection of the EU budget and its financial interests is an important task of the Member States as well as the institutions, bodies and agencies of the Union. This objective can be reached by several means: by preventing criminal offences affecting the financial interests of the Union, by monitoring the regular implementation of the EU budget, by strengthening operational cooperation between national and EU authorities and by sanctioning of these criminal offences and illegal activities. However, in order to ensure an effective protection of the financial interests, the European Union has to primarily focus on the preventive measures, since it is always better to detect and prevent the commission of crimes than to react to committed illegal acts. In this context, compliance measures, e.g. risk assessment and risk management, internal investigation or whistleblowing, play an important role. This paper focuses on the protection of whistleblowing. In 2019, the European Parliament and the Council adopted a Directive on the protection of whistleblowers, which lays down common minimum standards that provide a high level of protection for persons reporting breaches of Union law. The scope of the Whistleblowing Directive also covers breaches affecting the financial interests of the Union, since it can be a useful tool for the early detection and prevention of such criminal offences.

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