By the end of 2025, the European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO) was conducting 3,602 active investigations, an increase of 35% compared to 2024, for a total estimated loss of €67.27bn, to the detriment of European and national budgets. This amount is almost three times higher than the figure recorded a year earlier, which stood at €24.8bn. But over and above the quantitative increase, the very structure of the crimes prosecuted marks a profound break.
According to the annual report published in Luxembourg on Monday, more than two-thirds of the estimated loss, or €45.01bn, is now linked to fraud affecting EU revenue, mainly VAT and customs duties. However, this category represents only a minority of the total number of cases, with 981 active investigations. Conversely, expenditure fraud – subsidies, aids and European funds – accounts for 68% of investigations, but only totals €18.67bn in estimated damage, i.e. 27% of the total.
This dissociation between the volume of cases and their financial impact highlights the emergence of a criminal economy structured around EU tax resources. The report explicitly refers to a “criminal industry” that has long been ignored or tolerated, but has now been identified as a central issue for both public finances and the economic security of the European Union. VAT and customs duty fraud thus appear to be a favoured vector of transnational organised crime, often associated with related offences such as money laundering or participation in a criminal organisation.
2,030 new investigations
The judicial activity of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office increased significantly in 2025. Over the year, 2,030 new investigations were opened, an increase of 35%, and 275 indictments were brought before national courts, an increase of 34%. The conviction rate in cases brought by EPPO was almost 95%. Judges also granted asset freezing measures totalling €1.13bn, while the value of assets effectively frozen during the year reached €288.93m.
The report also highlights the growing exposure of funds from the European Recovery Plan. At the end of 2025, 512 active investigations concerned the Recovery and Resilience Facility, the central instrument of the NextGenerationEU programme, an increase of 66.7% in one year. With disbursements due to continue until December 2026, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office believes that the risk of fraud and corruption remains high, particularly in a context of accelerating payments.
In Luxembourg, the report highlights a smaller number of cases, but involving significant amounts. At the end of 2025, 32 active investigations concerned the Grand Duchy, with total estimated losses of €1.42bn. The vast majority of this amount comes from expenditure fraud, which accounts for 24 cases and €1.18bn in estimated damages, while seven investigations concern revenue fraud, mainly VAT and customs duties, amounting to €214.33m. The Luxembourg cases have a strong cross-border dimension, with 47 incoming and five outgoing assistance decisions between European Delegated Prosecutors. In 2025, 27 reports were processed in Luxembourg, mainly from private parties, and eight indictments were filed. However, precautionary measures remain limited, with only €0.07m in assets frozen over the year, illustrating the gap between the amounts at stake and the assets actually secured at this stage of the proceedings.
EU institutions under-report
In terms of detection, EPPO processed 6,966 alerts and complaints in 2025, up 6%. This increase is mainly due to reports from private parties and national authorities. On the other hand, notifications from the Union's institutions, bodies and agencies remain limited, with 143 reports over the year, a level deemed insufficient given their role in the management of European funds.
In the foreword to the report, the chief European public prosecutor, Laura Kövesi, sees these results as confirmation of the European Public Prosecutor’s structural role in the Union’s judicial architecture. She stresses that the institution’s primary objective is not budgetary profitability, but the effective prosecution of fraudsters and the dismantling of criminal networks. At the end of her term of office, she says she wants to leave a legacy of an independent institution, demonstrating that, in the European Union, the law applies equally to all.
