Report on the achievement of the objectives of the Hercule II Programme

This report sets out the main results of the 2007-13 Hercule II Programme adopted in 2007 to promote activities to protect the European Community’s financial interests. It is based on an independent evaluation commissioned by the European Commission’s Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) and carried out between March and December 2014 by an external contractor supported and supervised by a steering group of officials from OLAF and the Commission’s Secretariat-General.

The first Hercule Programme, established by Decision No 804/2004/EC, was dedicated to protecting the EU’s financial interests by supporting the fight against irregularities, fraud and corruption affecting the EU budget. In 2007, it was succeeded by Hercule II with the adoption of Decision No 878/2007/EC, which amended Decision No 804/2004/EC. In 2014, the European Parliament and the Council adopted Regulation (EU) No 250/2014 on the Hercule III Programme for 2014-20.

The general objective of Hercule II was to establish a Community action programme to promote activities designed to strengthen EU action with regard to the prevention and combating of fraud affecting the financial interests of the Union, including the fight against cigarette smuggling and counterfeiting.

EUR-Lex: COM(2015)221: Follow the progress of this report through the decision-making procedure http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2015:221:FIN

ESO: Background information: Fighting Fraud: Hercule III Work Programme adopted http://www.europeansources.info/record/press-release-fighting-fraud-hercule-iii-work-programme-adopted/

---