Committees push for a public prosecutor Committees in the European Parliament are taking every opportunity to tell member states what the office of a future European public prosecutor should look like.

The European Parliament is maintaining its pressure on member states for the creation of a post of European Union prosecutor with wide powers to tackle fraud that is estimated to cost the EU up to €3 billion a year. The Parliament called – by a large majority – in March last year for an anti-fraud prosecutor with cross-border powers.

On Tuesday (24 February), Parliament’s committee on legal affairs discussed a blueprint for a future European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO). It emphasised “the need for a European public prosecutor that is more independent, that is not related to any political debate,” said Victor Negrescu, the committee’s EPPO rapporteur. The European Council is currently discussing a proposal that it will present to the European Parliament for acceptance or rejection – but not for amendment.

The European Commission says that fraud accounts for around 2% of the EU budget, but EU anti-fraud bodies – Eurojust, Europol and the European anti-fraud office (OLAF) – have limited powers in cases of criminal misuse of EU funds. They can do no more than recommend prosecution to national authorities, which blunts their effectiveness since member states implement more than three-quarters of EU expenditure. Prosecution remains the responsibility of member states.

Some MEPs fear that member states and the Commission may be reluctant to grant the prosecutor sufficient independence, and the legal affairs committee is calling for the scope of the EPPO to “avoid legal uncertainty as regards the criminal offence which falls within its remit”.

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