Corruption costs the European Union almost €1,000 billion (€1 trillion) every year.

Omissions

• The €990 billion figure is the UPPER bound of a wide range (approximately €179–€990 billion per year) from the 2016 RAND Europe study; the claim presents the maximum as if it were the typical annual cost.
• The most recent European Parliament research (EPRS, 2023) gives substantially lower figures: about €120 billion per year in direct costs (European Commission, 2014) and €179–€256 billion per year for the high-corruption-risk scenario.
• The €990 billion is an estimate of economic cost / lost GDP, not 'money stolen directly from hospitals, schools, motorways or kindergartens' as the speaker frames it.
• The underlying estimate dates from 2016 (published over two years before the 2026-10-08 session), and no updated aggregate EU-wide annual figure exists; the 2023 RAND update only estimated €29.6 billion in cumulative public-procurement corruption costs for 2016–2021.

Sources

• PrimaryRAND Europe – Estimating the Cost of Non-Europe in the Area of CorruptionRelated commentary: 'Corruption Costs Europe Up to €990 Billion Per Year — Corruption costs Europe up to €990 billion in GDP annually, according to a new study. That's more than eight times previous estimates.' (22 Mar 2016)
• SecondaryEncompass Europe – The true economic cost of corruption in Europe (RAND Europe study authors)Our analysis resulted in a new estimate of up to €990 billion in GDP terms being lost annually, demonstrating the significant economic impact of corruption on the EU and its member states. That's more than eight times existing estimates.
• SecondaryUniversity of Gothenburg – Risk of growing corruption within the EUAccording to the European Parliament, corruption within the EU costs up to €990 billion per year.
• SecondaryEuropean Parliamentary Research Service (EPRS) – Stepping up the EU's efforts to tackle corruption (STUD/2023/734687)cost the EU economy about €120 billion per year... the economic costs of corruption risk were estimated to reach €179 to €256 billion per year. In a 2014 study, the European Commission estimated that corruption cost the EU... (a lower range than the RAND 2016 upper bound of €990 billion).