The European Commission’s Legislative Proposal: An Overview of Its Main Characteristics

Abstract

This chapter puts the European Commission’s proposal on the establishment of a European Public Prosecutor’s Office in a wider perspective, taking as a starting point the current framework for the protection of the EU’s financial interests at European judicial level. Implications from institutional, procedural and substantive law points of view, which need to be kept in mind when implementing Article 86 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union in the existing landscape of judicial cooperation in criminal matters, are analysed. Against this background, the main characteristics of the European Commission’s proposal are explored and features essential for a future European Public Prosecutor’s Office to be able to function in practice are highlighted. The argument is made that the European Public Prosecutor must act as part of a coherent system to bring added value to the fight against crimes adversely affecting the EU’s financial interests. To be workable, the proposal needs to ensure solid synergies between all national and European actors involved, especially Eurojust, as stipulated in the Lisbon Treaty.