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On 28 November 2023, the Commission presented a bundle of measures to reinforce the prevention and fight against migrant smuggling. A new Directive will replace the current legal framework on the facilitation of unauthorised entry, transit and stay in the EU. A new Regulation is designed to strengthen police cooperation in the fight against migrant smuggling with a central, more important role of Europol.

On 16 November 2023, the Commission decided to refer Poland to the CJEU for failure to communicate the measures transposing into national legislation Directive 2013/48/EU on the right of access to a lawyer and to communicate upon arrest. The Commission has mainly blamed Poland for …

The EU and the UN have fostered their collaboration in the fight against corruption. On 5 October 2023, the second EU-UNODC Anti-Corruption Dialogue was held in Vienna. On 13/14 November 2023, the review for the implementation of the UNCAC in the EU was continued by an evaluation visit coordinated by UNODC.

According to a review report, the Commission does not share the same conclusion as the ECA does on specific expenditure areas. Estimates as regards the error rate considerably diverge between the two EU bodies.

The EU's spending in 2022 amounted to €196 billion, which was marked by a significant increase in the level of error, which is why two thirds of the audited expenditure must be considered high-risk. This is one of the main findings in the European Court of Auditors' (ECA) annual reports on the implementation of the EU budget.

In a special report of October 2023, the ECA concluded that the monitoring elements of the RRF are insufficient for measuring the overall performance, i.e. it is unclear to which extent the goals of the fund, such as making European economy greener and more resilient, were achieved. In addition problems of data quality and weaknesses in the reporting system were observed.

In a report of 24 October 2023, the Swiss Federal Office of Justice examined the impact of the EU e-evidence package on service providers based in Switzerland and on mutual legal assistance between Switzerland and the EU/EU Member States.

On 20 October 2023, the JHA Council adopted conclusions on digital empowerment to protect and enforce fundamental rights in the digital age. They highlight the importance of ensuring that fundamental rights of citizens are preserved and protected in an increasingly digitalised world.

On 23 November 2023, the Commission released several documents which aim to foster cooperation between the Member States of the Schengen area. The Commission makes several recommendation on how Member States can avoid long-lasting internal border controls in order to react to threats to internal security and public policy.

In light of the latest revelations on money laundering and evasion of sanctions against Russia in Cyprus, MEPs discussed counter-measures together with representatives from the Council n and the Commission in a hearing on 22 November 2023.