EU – Baltic States, Legislation

Once in place, the independent EU public prosecutor will be equipped with the power to investigate and prosecute criminal cases affecting the EU budget, such as corruption or fraud with EU funds, or cross-border VAT fraud. It will be a strong, independent and efficient body specialized in fighting financial crime across the EU, the European Commission Representation in Estonia said.

The European Public Prosecutor will be able to investigate efficiently crimes against EU budget and VAT fraud, such as fraud involving EU funds over 10,000 euros and cross-border VAT fraud over 10 mln euros. It will be able to act quickly across borders without the need for lengthy judicial cooperation proceedings. It will bring actions against criminals directly in front of national courts. This should lead to more successful prosecutions and a better recovery of the defrauded money.

"We have zero tolerance for fraud against the EU budget. Every cent of it needs to be spent for the benefit of EU citizens. With a strong, independent and efficient European Public Prosecutor we are strengthening our efforts in protecting taxpayers' money by ensuring a European approach to the criminal investigation and prosecution of criminal offences affecting the Union budget. This will be a substantial addition to the current means at union level, namely the work of OLAF in the area of administrative investigations," Commissioner Gunther H. Oettinger, in charge of budget and human resources, said.

The European Public Prosecutor's Office will operate as a single office across all participating member states. It will be a highly specialized and independent office, set up outside the existing EU institutions and services. The European Public Prosecutor's Office will act in the interest of the EU and will not seek nor take instructions from EU institutions or national authorities.

It will be organized with a central office at EU level and a decentralized level consisting of European Delegated Prosecutors located in the member states, who will also continue their function as national prosecutors, dubbed "double hat." The central level will supervise the investigations and prosecutions carried out at national level, to ensure effective coordination and a uniform approach throughout the EU. In this way, it will bring in a wide range of expertise and experience about national legal systems while maintaining independence. If the office takes up an investigation, national authorities will not exercise their competences for the same criminal activity.

Following the general approach reached in the council on Thursday among Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Spain and Slovenia, the European Parliament will have to give its consent, before the regulation can finally be adopted. Other member states may join the 20 founding members at any time after the adoption of the regulation.