Mismanagement of European Maritime and Fisheries Fund Sees Taxpayers' Money Vanish into the Wrong Pockets

The briefing details extensive administrative failures by the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs in managing EMFF funds between 2014 and 2017. Key issues include the wrongful granting of funds to fishers who committed serious infringements of the Common Fisheries Policy, incorrect application of support rates, and failure to prevent fraud and conflicts of interest. The document calls for all EU Member States to conduct national audits of EMFF management to ensure conditionality and admissibility rules are respected.

• The Danish Court of Auditors found that the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs' management of EMFF funds from 2014-2017 was characterized by errors and irregularities so extensive they reflected a "worrying and unusual administrative culture".
• Funding was incorrectly granted to fishers who should have been excluded due to serious infringements of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP). The auditors estimated that 24% of examined funding went to fishers who would have been inadmissible if the penalty point system had been managed correctly, and suggested the ministry should investigate all cases for evidence of fraud.
• The Danish Ministry failed to correctly implement support rates for its largest funding scheme. In 60 out of 80 audited cases, the support rate was too high, leading to the incorrect approval of up to DKK 21 million (approximately €2.81 million), which represents about 40% of the funds checked during the audit.
• There was significant failure in procurement oversight and the prevention of fraud. In 24% of audited cases (19 out of 80), the ministry failed to identify a lack of independence between the supplier and the purchaser, with some evidence pointing to the use of 'front men' and fraud.
• The Danish Ministry failed to maintain a comprehensive register of infringements by recording only national violations and ignoring those identified by foreign authorities. Additionally, it incorrectly ignored EU requirements to assign penalty points for logbook margin of tolerance infringements exceeding 10%.
• The ministry failed to adequately control vessel registration and transfer requirements. This resulted in cases where subsidized vessels were sold outside the EU only four months after investments were paid, despite a regulation prohibiting such transfers for at least five years.

APA

ClientEarth (2019). Mismanagement of European Maritime and Fisheries Fund Sees Taxpayers' Money Vanish into the Wrong Pockets. https://www.clientearth.org/media/bluavfoz/mismanagement-of-european-maritime-and-fisheries-fund-sees-taxpayers-money-vanish-into-the-wrong-pockets-coll-en.pdf

Chicago

ClientEarth. Mismanagement of European Maritime and Fisheries Fund Sees Taxpayers' Money Vanish into the Wrong Pockets. 2019. https://www.clientearth.org/media/bluavfoz/mismanagement-of-european-maritime-and-fisheries-fund-sees-taxpayers-money-vanish-into-the-wrong-pockets-coll-en.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=ClientEarth |title=Mismanagement of European Maritime and Fisheries Fund Sees Taxpayers' Money Vanish into the Wrong Pockets |date=June 2019 |url=https://www.clientearth.org/media/bluavfoz/mismanagement-of-european-maritime-and-fisheries-fund-sees-taxpayers-money-vanish-into-the-wrong-pockets-coll-en.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{clientearth2019mismanagement, author = {{ClientEarth}}, title = {{Mismanagement of European Maritime and Fisheries Fund Sees Taxpayers' Money Vanish into the Wrong Pockets}}, institution = {ClientEarth}, year = {2019}, month = jun, url = {https://www.clientearth.org/media/bluavfoz/mismanagement-of-european-maritime-and-fisheries-fund-sees-taxpayers-money-vanish-into-the-wrong-pockets-coll-en.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }