Laura Codruţa Kövesi, Chief Prosecutor of the European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO), appeared on Thursday 6 February before the European Parliament's Committees on Civil Liberties (LIBE) and Budgetary Control (CONT) to present the state of play regarding the establishment of the European Public Prosecutor's Office, which is responsible for fighting serious cross-border crime affecting the EU budget.
Officially appointed in October 2019, after a long process full of twists and turns (see EUROPE 12331/5, 12232/11), Ms Kövesi went straight to the point and from the outset addressed the sore issue of lack of human and financial resources.
"The EPPO budget for 2020 needs to be reopened (see EUROPE 12372/1), significantly increased and the budget 2021 adjusted accordingly", she said.
One of her first tasks was to ask the participating Member States to provide data in order to estimate the workload of the European Public Prosecutor's Office in its first year of activity, she explained. Even if all Member States have yet to reply, she has already been able to make a preliminary estimate of the needs of the European Public Prosecutor's Office for the years 2020 and 2021.
Her point is clear. "The initial assumption was that the EPPO would start with the resources it will have in 2020 and reach cruising speed by 2023, at which point the EPPO would be able to handle just under 1,000 investigations. This initial assumption proved wrong", she said.
According to Ms Kövesi's new estimates, the European Public Prosecutor's Office should assess at least 3,000 cases from the very first days of its operation in order to decide which cases fall within the competence of the central office and which remain within the competence of the national prosecutors. In addition, nearly 2,000 cases are expected to be added each year.
An unmanageable workload with only 32 European Delegated Prosecutors, 22 European Public Prosecutors and 29 staff members at the central office in Luxembourg, Kövesi said.
All the more so since, of these 29 employees, 25 have already been assigned to human resources, information technology - in particular for the development of the business management system - and budgetary matters. This leaves only four staff members to record and analyse these 3,000 cases. In other words, mission impossible!
Part-time European Delegated Prosecutors?
A further major difficulty is the ongoing discussion between the Member States and the Commission on the possibility of having only a half-time Delegated European Prosecutor for those Member States where the workload would be reduced.
The proposal is simply "ridiculous" and could undermine the independence of the institution, says Ms Kövesi.
"For me, it is clear, if we want to do a serious job (...), if we want a truly independent EPPO, we have to start with full-time European delegated prosecutors", she said.
For her, it’s impossible that the European Public Prosecutor's Office could start working until these budgetary and staffing problems have been resolved. For this reason, Laura Codruţa Kövesi will meet with EU Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders and EU Budget and Human Resources Commissioner Johannes Hahn on 17 February.
MEPs appreciated Ms Kövesi's frankness and reiterated their support for her. CONT Committee Chair Monika Hohlmeier (EPP, Germany) also hoped that a supplementary amending budget would be presented by the Commission and approved by the Member States to increase the resources of the European Public Prosecutor's Office. For MEP Sophie in 't Veld (RE, Netherlands), if Member States do not react quickly, more radical measures are needed, and - why not? - "go on a budget strike".
Still no College of Prosecutors
Another obstacle to the proper functioning of the European Public Prosecutor's Office remains: the fact that the College of Prosecutors has still not been formed. "This has been put on hold", said Ms Kövesi, pointing out that this is delaying the adoption of several decisions, such as the working arrangements between Eurojust and the European Public Prosecutor's Office. It is Malta's difficulties in nominating a candidate that we are told is blocking the process.
In order to ensure that the institution will be operational by the end of 2020, Laura Codruţa Kövesi has, since January, embarked on a tour of the 22 Member States participating in the European Public Prosecutor's Office, which she intends to continue in the coming weeks. (Original version in French by Marion Fontana)