Amending budget 2/2024: reinforcing the European Public Prosecutor's Office following the accession of Poland and the expected participation of Sweden

The European Parliament adopted by 434 votes to 45, with 55 abstentions, a resolution on the Council position on Draft amending budget No 3 to the general budget 2024 reinforcing the European Public Prosecutor's Office following the accession of Poland and the expected participation of Sweden.

Parliament approved the Council position on draft amending budget No 3/2024.

As a reminder, the purpose of Draft Amending Budget No 3 for the year 2024 (DAB 3/2024) is to introduce the necessary reinforcement to the European Public Prosecutor's Office (the EPPO) following the Commission decision confirming the participation of Poland in the enhanced cooperation on the establishment of the EPPO that was adopted on 29 February 2024, as well as the participation of Sweden which is expected to be confirmed later in 2024.

Overall, the net impact of DAB 3/2024 on expenditure amounts to an increase of EUR 3.6 million in commitment and in payment appropriations and an additional 20 establishment plan posts.

In the absence of any margin in Heading 2b (Resilience and Values), the Commission proposes to cover the additional costs by mobilising the Flexibility Instrument.

Parliament welcomes Poland’s accession to the EPPO and Sweden’s expected participation, which would take the number of participating Member States to 24. With this enlargement, the EPPO will also be in a position to investigate and prosecute offences affecting the Union’s financial interests committed in those Member States, thus better protecting the Union’s interests and its budget and helping to uphold the rule of law.

Members regretted the fact that Draft amending budget No 3/2024 does not provide the resources necessary to ensure that the EPPO is fully equipped to pursue effectively its investigations, can manage its growing operational workload and has sufficient resources to prepare for full and secure IT systems autonomy as of 2025. In this regard, the Commission is called on to include the necessary additional resources in a future draft amending budget and to provide IT services until such time as the EPPO has the necessary resources to become IT-independent.