Franz-Hermann Bruner, OLAF Director General

• We want to see Bulgaria is dealing with the cases and progress is being made in the right direction
• Bulgaria should convince the Europeans it is making a correct assimilation of their money

An enormous power is concentrated in his hands. A few words from him are enough to cause a distress in any European country. Bulgaria already knows that a negative report by the head of the European Anti-Fraud Office can lead to a direct cessation of European funds. That is why Franz-Hermann Bruner is entrusted with the task to protect the 100-billiard EU budget from frauds, misappropriation and corruption.

In 2006, for example, Bruner’s office investigated successfully 12 000 fraud cases, totalling 1.2 billion EUR. For this and many more successful results, on July 16, 2008 Franz-Hermann Bruner was conferred the award of the Taxpayers’ Association of Europe. OLAF’s Director General has an extensive 30-year professional experience as an investigating judge and public prosecutor. He graduated in Law from the University of Munich to later join the Ministry of Justice in Bavaria. He then worked as an investigating judge and a prosecutor in Munich. In 1996 he was made Head of the Department fighting organised crime, fraud and corruption. He is familiar with the underhand dealings on the Balkans from his two-year experience as Head of the Anti-Fraud Unit and Deputy Head of the Economics Department of the Office of the High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina. He never fails to mention that in the 1990s he was among the drafters of the indictment against the former leader of the German Democratic Republic, Erich Honecker. In 2000 he was elected OLAF’s Director General for the first time.

Mr. Bruner, the European Anti-Fraud Office is becoming increasingly popular in Bulgaria, yet the Bulgarian citizens are not quite familiar with its functions. Can you elaborate on the mission and the goals of the agency?
It is indeed important to explain our goals and functions. OLAF’s slogan reads: “Protection of Europe's financial interests”. Europe spends money and therefore control is necessary. This is not only a European problem but also a common one. Wherever funds are spent, there are people who try to misappropriate them. That is why we are working together with all member-states – to protect our money. That is our aim in Bulgaria as well – to work together with the Bulgarian authorities in order to improve the situation in the country, i.e. we are working to improve the administrative capacity and to resolve the problems with the judiciary.

The reason OLAF is so popular in Bulgaria perhaps lies in the volume of the cases we have here. We exercise the same activities in the other member-states but they are not so visible because their problems are not so striking. Since the beginning of summer 2008 we have a specific situation in the country – the money from the Funds has been blocked. Bulgaria has made serious efforts. It created the post of a deputy prime minister in charge of EU funds so now we have a partner on a political level. We continue working with big resources from OLAF in order to introduce the necessary changes and help the country out of the problem. Our task also is to prepare Bulgaria to receive the money, intended for the country, and the money it will receive in future. However, our current goal is to implement, together with the Bulgarian authorities, clear-cut and transparent control mechanisms, which will prevent any future frauds and crises. I must say we are on the right track but no one should expect that the change will happen overnight.

The suspension of 220 million euro met a serious reaction from the Bulgarian politicians. They said Brussels’ decision to block the money was unfair and that the efforts made by the Bulgarian government were left unnoticed. What is your opinion on this matter?
I understand your concerns but there is a clear-cut distinction between the EC authorities that provide the money and OLAF, the office, whose task is to provide investigation and control. As I already noted, no one expects that a change can happen overnight. When I was in Bulgaria, I said: We started from a rock bottom level. We are working to do something in the country. We discussed the future activities in the coming months. We hold the opinion a progress has been made but we are far from the moment when we can declare that we have done our work and achieved our goals. It is up to the people who provide the money to say whether their aim has been achieved, i.e. the money of the European taxpayers is protected.  And their assessment was: a progress has been made, Bulgaria did a lot in the recent month and its efforts are being acknowledged.

I want to make this clear: we are not downplaying your country’s achievements; we are not saying that nothing has been changed. There is progress but the question is whether this progress has been enough. The answer is up to the people, who control the funds. They are the ones who have to report to the taxpayers: “Yes, now we are convinced that we have achieved enough.” Their conclusion, however, was that the change is not enough. They said: “Keep on working because the structural funds are coming and you should be more prepared.” This is the situation. This is what I think and I hope we will continue working in this direction. I understand that the Bulgarian people and government are disappointed but what I would say is: “It is true we could not achieve everything we wanted in the last three month. So let’s use the coming three month, while we still have the inertia so that we can receive the money from the structural funds in the spring.

OLAF’s annual report is already a fact. What is the amount of taxpayers’ money “rescued” by the agency? Which is the investigation that you take most pride in?
I am most proud when we have nothing to investigate. This means we have acted proactively. Prevention is a key element in our work. We do not say: “Well done with this investigation.” Of course, if there was a fraud or misappropriation, we are happy our investigations have helped return the money to the budget. This is our principal obligation.

We have successes in various spheres. The biggest amounts of money that we have returned to the taxpayers are the money from the custom offices. You are familiar with the so-called cigarette affairs – the act of evading duties. We have successes with the structural funds as well – when the money was not spent properly and this, of course, is a matter of great concern. There are a lot of cases in the external funding. Most people in Europe do not know that the European Commission is the biggest donor organization in the world; we give money to Africa, Asia, and around the world. However, if the funds are not used properly, this is to the detriment of the poor, that is why we are motivated and resolute both in investigating these cases and in cooperating with the countries to establish the local structures, whose task is prevention in the future.

In a comparatively short period of time Brussels halted the funding for Bulgaria under PHARE, ISPA and SAPARD. Obviously there are problems. Can you point out the most problematic areas in this investigation?
All programmes in Bulgaria are problematic. The country experiences difficulties in all areas. However, some success has been made in SAPARD and the sphere of agriculture has improved significantly. There is yet a lot to be achieved in the other spheres but the changes are already visible. It is important for Bulgaria to demonstrate it is dealing with the cases and is moving in the right direction (a good example is the setting up of an anti-fraud team with the Prosecutor General). The volume of information we receive from Bulgaria is rising steadily. The Bulgarian authorities are willing to cooperate. These are all necessary changes. Hopefully, we will continue working in this direction to establish the system we have been talking about in the last few years – a system that is necessary for the success of Bulgaria so that no more funds are lost.

Bulgaria has already begun to utilize the money from the Structural Funds. During your visit to Sofia, you met with representatives from all institutions, responsible for the funds. What is your general impression? Do Sofia and Brussels speak in the same language? What is your advice to the Bulgarian institutions?
We discussed the issues on all levels – on political level and with the Supreme Judicial Council. What is important for us is that the undertaken measures are aimed at the future and are not adopted ad hoc; not only for working out the crisis but with forethought of ensuring stability. We want to be able to say that Bulgaria has set up clear-cut mechanisms for absorbing the Funds, for exercising efficient control, for combating the problems of frauds and corruption, as well as that there is a successful approach in the judicial system. What I wanted to see and what I insisted on knowing was which is the best way in which the country can demonstrate that these structures will remain functional, regardless of the sphere of political influence. That there is an active administrative origination, capable of effecting its functions. My primal goal is that these ends be achieved. We also want to see more concrete results in our work. I would like to note that although OLAF and I are from the system, we never attempt to dictate the activities of the judicial system. What we want is transparency in the way our cases are treated. This also was in the focus of the discussions with the Supreme Judicial Council. We urged for more transparency and visibility in the activities of the judicial power. This will help generate the trust the country needs. Bulgaria should convince OLAF, Bulgaria should convince the Europeans, that it is making a correct assimilation of their money. There are no irreversible situations. Of course, sometimes we have to raise a red flag to indicate that there is a problem. But we try to avoid coming up that far.

Some people in Bulgaria believe OLAF was set up especially for Bulgaria and the existing problems in the country. This, of course, is far from the truth. What are the conclusions of OLAF’s 10 years of experience? Which are the countries with best practices in absorbing EU funds and which are the countries that meet with difficulties in this area?
Of course, in 1999, when OLAF was set up, no one had Bulgaria in mind. OLAF was established due to a satiation in the EU institutions – there were misappropriations of funds and corruption within the institutions. OLAF was created as a response. The key element in our work remains investigation within the EU. With the old members, we needed 50 years to achieve what we have today. We learned from our practice. We are well aware that the new members need assistance to adopt the system for their own administrations and that they have to do so within a very short time. Everyone was expecting Bulgaria to continue its efforts in protecting European money and intensify its work. That is not easy. The people, who handle the funds, should have a solid professional experience. They have to learn the rules and know how to identify the problems. We are a part of this process. Currently 10 percent of my staff are working on cases related to Bulgaria, but I would say, “You have the chance, you have the will, do not miss the opportunity!”

What is it to be a director general of the service, entrusted with the task to investigate corruption even in the European institutions? Does the post make you a lot of enemies?
This is the burden of my profession. Within the institution I am surrounded by friends but we are not there to make friends but do our job. One will always have enemies; the more important thing is that our counterparts in the investigation services of the member-states and of the third countries perceive us as friends.  It is natural to dislike the institution that has investigated your frauds, but this is our job.

With the project Mastering the Experience of OLAF’s Communicators Network (OAFCN), implemented within the framework of the Operational Programme “Administrative Capacity” OPAC, the Journalists Against Corruption Club is trying to promote and master OLAF’s and OAFCN’s  communication model. What is the role of OLAF’s communication network?
The most important task of the network is to communicate our messages and our work. By this I mean not only OLAF’s but all Europe’s activities in combating fraud and corruption.  It is also about sharing experience. Bulgaria will be able to not only present its practices in the network but also to draw on the experience of the other member-states.

The network also enables us to communicate our messages in an accessible way.  The national contributions are important because we try to present our achievements through the national point of view, from the concrete national situation. Europe’s treasure lies in its diversity – we are different but we try to do something together. We should take into account that we all have different cultural and historical backgrounds, and that with each country we are dealing with a different situation. And last but not least, we need people who understand how we want to act and who can help us translate this into the situation of the given member-state. This is the idea of the network.

Mr. Bruner, you are in the beginning of your second mandate. What are the key challenges for you now? What would you like to change and what are the results that you aspire to?
You say this is the beginning of my mandate, others say it is the end. We will see. As for my goals, the answer is simple: stability. It is the same thing that we try to achieve in Bulgaria. It is what we have aspired to in the last two years. We are now increasingly focusing on prevention. Our network is not only a communication network but a network of national investigation services within the EU states, which communicates to the world the results we would like to achieve inside the institutions – a better understanding of the challenges and the problems. And finally, I wish that we have the fastest working legal system, not only in Bulgaria but in Europe as a whole.

You are a person that inspires great respect in people. Does OLAF Director General have any spare time and what do you do when you have it?
I would like to have more spare time. I have not taken a day off for many years. My work is not easy. But if I had free time, I would dedicate it to my family... and may be to a game of golf.

Bulgarian Diplomatic Review
With the assistance of OPAC
ESF OPAC Contract No 08-23-21-C/28.07.2008