Last September, the European Commission began discussing the possibility of extending the mandate of the European Public Prosecutor's Office - which will be responsible for combating fraud involving European funds and VAT from 2020 - to include cross-border terrorism by 2025 (see EUROPE 12094/7). The Dutch Standing Committee of Experts on International Immigration, Refugee and Criminal Law (the 'Meijers Committee') has examined the issue and called for caution.
In a note published on Wednesday 13 March, the committee recommends that choosing the most suitable European institution should be given “particular attention”.
The experts believe that extending the mandate in this way would be inappropriate because of the very "nature" of the European Public Prosecutor's Office, the aim of which is to overcome the reluctance of national authorities to investigate and prosecute cases of fraud against the European Union's financial interests. However, the note stresses that there is no reluctance in Member States to combat terrorist offences.
The Committee also criticises the lack of empirical evidence on the extent to which the fight against terrorism is currently being hampered by the fact that the European Public Prosecutor's Office does not have the capacity to tackle these issues. In the opinion of the experts, the lack of information-sharing, coordination and cooperation may be the main problem, but solutions must be found by improving information-sharing and coordination and cooperation processes.
The note also points out that Europol and Eurojust, the key European bodies for cooperation and coordination in the field of criminal law enforcement are already in place. As reform of these bodies is ongoing, the Committee recommends that the way they operate in terrorism-related cases should be assessed first before extension of the European Public Prosecutor's Office’s mandate is considered.
As far as the EU Council is concerned, this issue is not a priority for the Romanian Presidency, which is already involved in the sensitive process of appointing the head of the European Public Prosecutor's Office (see EUROPE 12210/2).
In any case, the decision will have to be taken unanimously by all Member States, including countries that are not involved with the European Public Prosecutor's Office, and after the consent of the European Parliament has been obtained. (Original version in French by Marion Fontana)