Herrnfeld/Brodowski/Burchard, European Public Prosecutor’s Office, First Edition, Beck-Hart-Nomos, 2021
Herrnfeld / Brodowski / Burchard
European Public Prosecutor’s Office: EPPO
Regulation (EU) 2017/1939 implementing enhanced cooperation on the establishment of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (‚the EPPO‘)
Article-by-Article Commentary
Kommentar
Buch. Hardcover (In Leinen)
2021
XXII, 798 S., 200,00 Euro inkl. MwSt.
In englischer Sprache
ISBN 978-3-406-74388-7
In Gemeinschaft mit Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft, Baden-Baden und Hart Publishing, Oxford
Das Werk ist Teil der Reihe: Kooperationswerke Beck – Hart – Nomos
The European Public Prosecutor’s Office started its work today. This new EU-wide agency will tackle large-scale cross-border crime against the EU budget. This European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EUStA) will be the first independent and decentralised prosecutor’s office in the European Union with the power to investigate, prosecute and bring to justice crimes against the EU budget such as fraud, corruption and serious cross-border VAT fraud across 22 Member-States of the European Union. The tasks are essentially about serious cases of white-collar crime.
The main task of this EU body is to protect EU funds from criminals in the common interest of the citizens and the taxpayers. It will closely monitor the implementation of NextGenerationEU to ensure that the funds are fully used for economic recovery from the crisis and other targets. The European Public Prosecutor’s Office is responsible for criminal investigations and prosecutions of offences against the EU budget. It is the first supranational prosecutor’s office ever created in the world. It investigates and prosecutes the following fraud and other offences against the EU’s financial interests:
- Fraud in connection with expenditure and revenue,
- fraudulent activities related to VAT levies involving two or more Member States and causing a total loss of at least 10 million euros,
- money laundering of assets derived from fraud offences against the EU budget,
- bribery, corruption and embezzlement to the detriment of the EU’s financial interests,
- participation in a criminal organisation whose activities are primarily focused on the commission of offences to the detriment of the EU budget.
This new Union body will also be able to investigate and prosecute any other illegal activity inextricably linked to an offence against the EU budget. According to the conception of the relevant regulations for this activity, the European Commission has no power to issue instructions.
The European Public Prosecutor’s Office will carry out its investigations and prosecutions in full independence from the Commission and other EU institutions and bodies, as well as from the Member States. It will complement the work of other EU bodies such as OLAF, Eurojust and Europol and cooperate with them as well as with the competent authorities of those Member States that do not participate in the supranational prosecution service. In the longer term, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office is expected to investigate around 3000 cases per year.
The European Public Prosecutor’s Office was established by Regulation (EU) 2017/1939 of 12th October 2017, which are the subject of this new commentary. Within its current composition, 22 EU Member States participate in „enhanced cooperation“. The European Public Prosecutor’s Office is headed by the European Public Prosecutor Laura Codruța Kövesi, has its headquarters in Luxembourg and is composed of one European Public Prosecutor per participating Member State and other staff. In addition, delegated European Public Prosecutors in the Member States form an integral part of this independent body.