European Public Prosecutor's Office

The EU prosecutor will have the power to investigate and prosecute fraud against EU finances

In April 2017, 16 member states agreed to work more closely together to better fight EU fraud. They agreed to establish a European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO), using the 'enhanced cooperation' procedure.

Later on, more EU countries decided to join the effort to protect the EU budget against fraud: there are now 22 participating member states.

Once it is up and running, the EU public prosecutor will have the power to investigate and prosecute crimes affecting the EU budget such as:

fraud
corruption
money laundering
cross-border VAT fraud

On this page you can learn more about:

why the EU public prosecutor was established
the EU prosecutor's role and structure
how the enhanced cooperation became a reality

Participating member states

Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Italia, Malta, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Spain, the Netherlands.

Why do we need an EU prosecutor?

Member states lose at least €50 billion in VAT revenue every year because of transnational fraud. They have also reported that around €638 million of EU structural funds were misused in 2015.

Until now, only national authorities could investigate such crimes. However, their jurisdiction ends at national borders, leaving national prosecutors with limited tools to fight large-scale financial crime across borders.

Similarly, the existing EU bodies such as the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) or the EU Judicial Cooperation Unit (Eurojust) are unable to launch criminal investigations or prosecutions in member states.

The European Public Prosecutor's Office will help to overcome these shortcomings and crack down on offences affecting the EU's financial interests.

The EU prosecutor's role and structure

Role

The EU prosecutor's mission will be to tackle fraud against the EU finances. It will have the power to investigate and prosecute crimes affecting the EU's financial interests.

The EPPO will conduct cross-border investigations into fraud involving EU funds of over €10 000, or into cross-border VAT fraud cases involving damage of above €10 million.

The EU prosecutor will work hand in hand with national law enforcement authorities. It will also work closely with other bodies like Eurojust and Europol.

Infographic - Structure of the European Public Prosecutor's Office

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Structure

The EU prosecutor will have a two-tiered structure.

The strategic level will be composed of:

a European chief prosecutor responsible for managing the EPPO and organising its work
a college of prosecutors responsible for decision-making on strategic matters

The operational level will feature:

European delegated prosecutors responsible for conducting criminal investigations and prosecutions
permanent chambers which will monitor and direct the investigations and take operational decisions

When will the EU prosecutor start work?

The Commission will set the starting date for the EPPO's operations once the office has been set up. This will be based on a proposal from the European Chief Prosecutor.

The EU prosecutor should to take up its functions by the end of 2020 as the setting-up phase is expected to take two to three years.

Since the adoption of the EPPO regulation, the Commission has been regularly briefing justice ministers on the establishment of the office.

The Commission has already started to work on a number of steps towards the creation of the office, including:

appointing an interim Administrative Director
selecting the European Chief Prosecutor
selecting the European Prosecutors
drawing up the budget

How the enhanced cooperation was launched

The Commission submitted its proposal to establish a European Public Prosecutor’s Office back in 2013. In order for it to be adopted, the Council had to agree unanimously and obtain the European Parliament's consent.

After over three years of negotiations, the Council failed to reach unanimous agreement on the proposal. The absence of unanimity was registered by the Council in February 2017 and confirmed by the European Council the following month.

In this type of situation, a group of at least nine member states may undertake enhanced cooperation, according to the EU treaties.

The enhanced cooperation on the EPPO was therefore launched in April 2017.

Two months later, participating member states agreed on the regulation on 8 June 2017. The Parliament gave its consent on 5 October 2017. Afterwards the Council adopted the EPPO regulation on 12 October, which entered into force on 20 November 2017.