On Thursday 9 March, the heads of state or government of the Twenty-Eight were able to launch the procedure paving the way for enhanced cooperation on the European Public Prosecutor's Office, in spite of Warsaw's refusal to sign the official conclusions of the European summit.
As the Commissioner for Justice, Věra Jourová, stressed in Malta on 27 January (see EUROPE 11685), it was not possible to reach unanimity on this dossier. The European Council, having been approached by 17 member states wishing to make progress on the project, was therefore required to take note of this failure in order to launch the procedure.
The fact that Poland did not get behind the final conclusions of the European Council will not lead to any delay, several sources explain. The conclusions of the President of the European Council adopted on Thursday evening are enough and the subject also had to be included on the agenda of the summit so that the decision made would be valid. According to another source, however, the aim was legally to consolidate the procedure and therefore to include this decision of the member states in the minutes of the European Council.
As the main thing has now been achieved, the member states wishing to do so will be able to launch this enhanced cooperation on the European Public Prosecutor's Office, which will be the fourth since the Treaty of Amsterdam following those on divorce, the single patent and the financial transactions tax. They will draft a letter to this effect to be sent to the Justice ministers meeting in Brussels at the end of the month.
At this stage, 17 member states have indicated their interest in this cooperation on the Prosecutor's office (France, Germany, Belgium, Romania, Spain, the Czech Republic, Luxembourg, Slovakia, Austria, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Latvia, Lithuania, Greece, Croatia, Estonia and Finland). Sweden, the Netherlands, Hungary, Poland and Malta do not wish to participate. Italy is awaiting further clarifications and wishes to grant more powers to the Prosecutor's office. Cyprus and Portugal did not sign the letter. However, the Commission anticipates that these other countries may join the group of 17 at a later date.
Readers may recall that the European Public Prosecutor's Office project, which was launched in 2013, aims to fight fraud against European funds and will gradually come to include the fight against VAT fraud. It will be made up of a European Public Prosecutor and delegated European Public Prosecutors in the member states. The delegated European Public Prosecutors will carry out investigations and enter into proceedings with the assistance of national personnel and, in general, in application of the national law. In 2015, the Commission put fraud against European funds at €637.6 million.
The President of the French Republic, François Hollande, described it on Thursday evening as an “important step to reinforce our legal and criminal cooperation for states wishing to go further”. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic with Emmanuel Hagry)