Financial compliance in Cohesion Policy: how to protect the EU financial interests from domestic fraud

Despite the importance of Cohesion Policy in reducing regional disparities and stimulating economic growth across member states, it has been exposed to compliance challenges. These challenges are evidenced by a higher number of errors and irregularities against other areas of the European Union’s budgetary expenditure. Especially fraudulent irregularities may put the EU’s financial interests at risk. The question arises, thus, how to protect this EU’s largest investment area from fraudulent actions. This article addresses the following research question: How did Member States fight fraud in cohesion policy by taking preventive measures during the period 2014-2020? This contribution takes an exploratory, triangulated approach based on documentary analysis, analysis of a statistical dataset and interviews in the case of two countries, Italy and Slovakia. The findings will first show what measures Italy and Slovakia took to prevent fraud and, second, relate these measures to the countries’ performance in the fight against fraud.