Workshop -Tackling Fraud in the EU - Prof. Dimitrios Skiadas

Tackling Fraud in the EU – An ongoing quest for safeguarding the taxpayers’ money and the rule of law – 8 February 2023 – 1-4pm

We are delighted that Professor Dimitrios Skiadas, a leading expert in EU criminal law, is visiting the Department of Law, for the purposes of delivering this specialist workshop to Goldsmiths' LLB and LLB pathway students.

Professor Skiadas is the Head of the Department of International and European Studies at the University of Macedonia in Greece. His expertise spans a broad range of specialisms including EU Law, criminal law, public/constitutional law, European security and defence policy.

The workshop is divided in two parts.

Part One:
The first part provides an analytical overview of the EU arrangements to protect its financial interests against criminal offences such as fraud and corruption. The analysis will examine the definitions of fraud and corruption in the EU context, putting emphasis on elements relating to the objective and subjective dimensions of these offences, with reference to their development in the EU institutional and operational environment. The elements of the existing system of protecting the EU financial interests will be examined, along with previous initiatives that have not been developed further as a result of relevant political choices. Special attention will be paid to the latest scheme of the general regime of conditionality for the protection of the EU Union budget, which is an alternative mechanism of protecting the rule of law in the EU. Taking into account all aspects of the analysis, the first part will include references to cases of fraud and corruption in the EU that have been recently published.

Part Two:
The second part will focus on a recent and very relevant case involving fraud against the financial interests of the EU, a case of particular British interest that has been reviewed by the Court of Justice of the EU very recently: Case C‑213/19, European Commission v. United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (action for failure to act under Art 258 TFEU). The case refers to the non-collection, for many years, of custom duties and VAT by the British authorities during the import of textiles and shoes from China, as there were smuggling networks involved. The result of this situation was not only a significant loss of revenue for the British State but also for the EU budget’s own resources. Many legal issues were raised in this case, including the State’s responsibility for allowing such a situation to be developed by not adopting proper measures. An interesting aspect of the case is that its judicial dimension took place after the Brexit referendum and the judgement was delivered by the Court of Justice of the EU only in March 2022, thus setting a precedent for Britain’s legal responsibility for its actions or failures to act during the time of its EU membership. All in all, this case highlights the vulnerability of the EU against fraud and corruption and the need for improved cooperation between the competent national and EU authorities.

Enquiries to law@gold.ac.uk

Dates & times

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8 Feb 2023	1:00pm - 4:00pm	apple google outlook

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