Beyond the Assimilation Principle: Enhanced Protection of the EU’s Financial Interest vis-à-vis National Interests in Italy

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Table of Contents: I. Introduction. – II. Protecting European financial interests moving beyond the assimilation principle: some examples and their implications from the criminal law perspective. – III. “Beyond” or “below” the assimilation principle with the NRRP? The administrative law point of view. – III.1. Are European standards steering the national ones for the protection of public financial interest? The system of controls regarding EU funds under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan. – III.2. Administrative Judicial Review: a fast track for NRRP plans, projects and procedures? – IV. Final remarks.

Abstract: The aim of this Article is to demonstrate that a number of regulatory measures within the Italian legal system go “beyond” the assimilation principle. These measures not only adhere to the founding treaties of the European Union, which state that the financial interests of the Union must be protected using the same instruments (or at least equally effective mechanisms) as those safeguarding national financial interests, but they also impose, in some cases, stronger control systems and harsher penalties regarding European resources than those applied to national funds. In this paper, we argue that these new regulatory changes may not only offer potential benefits in terms of efficiency but may also pose risks that must be addressed in anticipation of future developments in the interaction between the European institutions and the EU Member States in managing public funds.

Keywords: Financial interest – Assimilation principle – Italy – EU funds – Administrative Law – Criminal Law.

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European Papers, Vol. 9, 2024, No 3, pp. 1180-1197
ISSN 2499-8249
- doi: 10.15166/2499-8249/804

* Tenure Track Assistant Professor of Criminal Law, University of Rome Unitelma Sapienza, emanuele.birritteri@unitelmasapienza.it.
** Junior Researcher in Administrative Law, Luiss University, etati@luiss.it.

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