Croatia: The study visit of Moldova delegation to Croatian AFCOS Unit, 19-21 June 2024, Zagreb

With the aim of enhancing administrative capacities and effective AFCOS establishment and operation in Republic of Moldova, Sector for Coordination of the System for Combating Irregularities and Frauds in the Use of EU Funds (AFCOS Unit), Ministry of Finance of Republic of Croatia, hosted the study visit of Moldova delegation in the period 19-21 June.

The Moldova delegation consisted of 3 representatives of Ministry of Finance and a representative of a National Anti-corruption Centre, accompanied by a representative of a Delegation of the EU to the Republic of Moldova.

During the 3-day visit, 5 representatives of the AFCOS Unit and a representative of Ministry of Interior of Republic of Croatia presented previous experiences and examples of good practice in the field of protecting the financial interests of the European Union, followed by the fruitful discussions and exchange of the opinion.

This project was assessed as extremely successful by Delegation of the European Union to the Republic of Moldova, and interest was expressed in continuing cooperation in the area of ​​protecting the financial interests of the EU, bearing in mind the experience of the Republic of Croatia as the youngest Member state of the EU and the obligations that the Republic of Moldova should carry out on its way to full membership in the EU.

Background

AFCOS Unit within Ministry of Finance continuously performs the role of the main contact point for the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) in the Republic of Croatia and the coordination role within the Croatian AFCOS system, and after the recent change in the organizational structure, in addition to performing the mentioned duties, the AFCOS Unit was given the jurisdiction to carry out administrative checks related to the use of the EU funds.

With the aim of becoming fully operational, and in order to empower the AFCOS Unit with the necessary legal and operational basis as well as the needed skills and knowledge to implement its new assignments and thus protect EU's financial interests, a technical support within TSI programme 2024 has been granted. It is expected that a 19-month long "flagship" project starts with its implementation by the end of this year.