The Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home
Affairs adopted the report by Barbara MATERA (EPP, IT) on the draft
Council Regulation implementing enhanced cooperation on the
establishment of the European Public Prosecutors
Office.
The committee recommended Parliament to give its
consent to the draft Council Regulation.
In the explanatory memorandum accompanying the
recommendation, it is recalled that Parliament adopted three
interim reports (2014, 2015 and 2016) on the European Public
Prosecutors Office (EPPO). These reports raised a number of
concerns regarding the competences of the EPPO, PIF directive and
VAT fraud, structure, investigations, procedural rights, judicial
review and relations with other relevant EU agencies.
The Regulation could have been more ambitious.
However, Parliaments concerns have largely been taken into
account in the text in its present form. The following points are
highlighted:
- the EPPO shall be a body of the Union with a
decentralised structure with the aim of integrating the
national law enforcement authorities;
- the set of competences and proceedings
for the EPPO, include the proposed directive on
fighting fraud against the Unions financial interests by
means of criminal law (PIF
directive);
- serious cases of cross-border VAT fraud
shall be included in the scope of the directive,
setting the threshold value at EUR 10 million;
- the EPPO Regulation shall ensure a comprehensive
system of judicial review by national courts and allows for
possibilities of direct review by the European Court of
Justice;
- the EPPO shall have sufficient investigative
measures available to conduct its investigations. The
co-legislators agreed on criteria for Member States to make
requests for investigative measures based on the principle of
mutual recognition set out in Directive
2014/41/EU regarding the European Investigation Order in
criminal matters;
- in full compliance with the rights of suspects and
accused persons enshrined in the Charter of Fundamental Rights, the
Regulation shall provide for rights of defence for EPPO
suspects, in particular the right to legal aid, the right to
interpretation and translation, the right to information and access
to case materials, and the right to present evidence and to ask the
EPPO to collect evidence on behalf of the suspect;
- the EPPO shall establish and maintain cooperative
relations with existing Union agencies, offices or bodies such as
Eurojust, OLAF and Europol;
- the Council included in the Regulation the request for
non-participating Member States to notify the EPPO as a
competent authority for the purpose to respect the judicial
cooperation in criminal matters.
While regretting that not all EU Member States are
involved in the establishment of the European Public Prosecutor
Office, the rapporteur nevertheless welcomed the fact that 20 of
them reached a general approach, including fraud against the
Unions financial interests, in particular, serious VAT fraud.
Non-participating Member States are encouraged to take part in
enhanced cooperation in the future.