The European Commission has decided to allocate additional funding of €3 million to the European Public Prosecutor's Office for the development of its Case Management System (CMS). This is stated in a non-paper from the Commission on the state of play of the establishment of the European Public Prosecutor's Office, dated 5 March.
Since her appointment, Laura Codruţa Kövesi, European Chief Prosecutor of the European Public Prosecutor's Office, has consistently advocated for a considerable increase in budget and staff for the years 2020 and 2021 (see EUROPE 12420/9). On 17 February, she met the European Commissioner for Justice, Didier Reynders, and the European Commissioner for Budget and Human Resources, Johannes Hahn, on this subject.
"In the course of this process, the Commission decided to allocate an additional €3 million for 2020 to facilitate a smooth start of the activities of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office", a Commission spokesperson confirmed to us on Friday 6 March.
This €3 million is in addition to the initial budget foreseen for the European Public Prosecutor's Office, i.e. around €58 million, and will be spent over a period of 3 years until 2022 on the development of the CMS.
"The next crucial step is the completion of the College of Prosecutors as soon as possible", the same spokesperson said.
Indeed, the note indicates that the selection committee will hear next 13 March the "three remaining candidates nominated by Malta". An earlier note, dated 17 February, mentioned only the two Maltese candidates nominated by their government on 31 January (see EUROPE 12429/7).
The formation of the College of European Prosecutors had been put on hold due to Malta's difficulties in appointing several candidates. However, in the absence of a College, several other decisions had to be delayed, in particular the working arrangements between Eurojust and the European Public Prosecutor's Office.
See note: https://bit.ly/3cCCDHm (Original version in English by Marion Fontana)