Author: Francesca Marasi
Committee: Art & Cultural Heritage Crimes Committee
Date: 17/06/2026
The role of EPPO in protecting Cultural Heritage in recent years
The data presented in the EPPO 2024 and 2025 Reports highlight the achievements of the first transnational prosecution office and confirm its key role in combating and preventing crimes affecting the financial interests of the European Union.
By the end of the 2025, EPPO had 3 602 active cases, with an estimated total damage to the European finances exceeding 67.27 billion euros.
These numbers represent a significant increase compared to the 2024 Annual Report, which recorded 2666 active investigations and a total estimated damage of 24.8 billion euros.
In addition, the 2025 report shows a further important trend: an increase of approximately 200 ongoing cases in the trial phase compared to 2024
These numbers demonstrate that EPPO’s activity is crucial in detecting financial crimes and safeguarding EU finances, while simplifying and accelerating judicial and investigative procedures at the European level.
It is important to note that financial crimes are very broad and intersect with multiple sectors, including culture.
In this context, investigations in the education and culture related programmes increased from 36 cases in 2024 to 47 in 2025.
Among European countries, Bulgaria ranks first with 9 cases, followed by France with 7 and Slovakia with 6. All these countries recorded an increase compared to 2024: Slovakia (+3), Bulgaria (+2) and France (+1).
In particular, over the past years, EPPO’s role has proven to be essential in combating offences against cultural heritage. This is due to the dual nature of such crimes, which are both criminal and financial. This duality facilitates their deep penetration into social and economic structures, thus undermining systems of tracking, protection and fiscal control.
Forgery, illicit trade, looting and fakes are inherently market-driven and transnational crimes, since they are interconnected especially with money laundering, and subsidy fraud.
As demonstrated by EPPO investigation, art transactions provide an effective vehicle for laundering “dirty money”, enabling tax evasion, distorting competition, reducing tax revenue, and damaging the integrity of the EU internal market. They may also jeopardize EU funds allocated for cultural heritage protection.
In this context, although EPPO does not have a specific mandate to safeguard cultural heritage, its activities have nonetheless proven capable of indirectly contributing to this objective.
Between 2024 and 2025, several EPPO investigations had a significant impact in this field.
Notable examples include two cases in Bulgaria concerning suspected subsidy fraud linked to the restoration of St Michael the Archangel Church and the so-called “Yellow Brick Road case”. In both cases, the EPPO uncovered complex criminal schemes of fraudulent exploitation of European funds, with damages amounting to several million euros.
Another important case concerns an EPPO investigation into the University of Zagreb. EPPO uncovered an agreement between the Dean of the Faculty of Geodesy and a former deputy Minister of Culture to assign post-earthquake building assessments to the Faculty, obtaining €5.98 million in funding, 85% of which came from EU funds.
These cases illustrate the importance of EPPO’s role in investigating the misuse of European funds and preventing further financial losses, while simultaneously contributing to ensuring that resources allocated for cultural heritage preservation are properly used.
Comparative analysis: the link between cultural heritage protection and financial crimes
When analysing the financial impact of cultural heritage crimes on the EU economy, a strong connection emerges with money laundering and subsidy fraud.
With regard to money laundering, the 2025 Report shows a significant increase of EPPO active cases of more than 3% compared to 2024, rising from 5.99% from 9.72%. The highest shares were recorded in France, Luxembourg, Malta and Portugal, followed by Belgium and Poland.
These countries all recorded notable increases compared to 2024—for instance, Malta and France both experienced rises of over 20%.
As highlighted in the 2025 Report, money laundering can also occur through the purchase and resale of luxury goods, which helps explain its connection to cultural heritage crimes.
Furthermore, recent EPPO investigations show that money laundering often operates through combined schemes, including cash-based laundering techniques. Indeed, in the cultural field, money laundering is facilitated by the use of cash, which guarantees anonymity, and online transactions, which expand access to cultural goods and reduce the need for direct contact or expert verification.
Another major impact on European finances is represented by subsidy fraud. It not only causes financial damages, but also undermines EU cultural policies, as funds for restoration and heritage protection may be used for fictitious projects or illegal activities.
In this regard, by the end of 2024, around 33% of Eppo’s investigations concerned non-procurement expenditure fraud; in 2025 this rose to 50.53%.
Similar patterns were identified within the NextGenerationEU framework.
By the end of 2025, the EPPO was handling 518 active cases, 512 of which stemmed from the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF). The estimated damage amounts to €5.08 billion, out of which €2.63 billion relate to active cases in the field of procurement fraud. In particular, fraudulent activities were concentrated in investments linked to green transition and digital transformation. Even when the link is indirect, the connection with cultural heritage remains significant. An example concerned subsidy fraud related to the installation of photovoltaic panels in Slovenia under the EU green transition plan. EPPO’s investigation indirectly contributed to the protection of cultural heritage, as the funds were being used to install panels in an area protected for its cultural value.
Conclusions
Although the number of culture-related cases remains relatively low, it is clear that EPPO plays a crucial role in protecting cultural heritage by combating fraud, misuse of EU funds, and money laundering.
By ensuring transparency in financial flows and reinforcing the integrity of the Union’s financial system, the EPPO contributes to limiting the criminal networks and safeguarding resources intended for cultural heritage.