The European Commissioner for Justice, Didier Reynders, reported at a press conference on Thursday 4 June on several challenges in the establishment of the European Public Prosecutor's Office, which is due to become operational in November.
The first, and not least, concerns the composition of the College of European Prosecutors (see EUROPE 12451/28). "We do not have yet the 27 European prosecutors in place. This is due to difficulties in finalising the Maltese list of candidates and the current requirement to have a formal national list of more than two people", he explained.
During the videoconference meeting of the European Ministers of Justice on the same day, the Maltese Minister Edward Zammit Lewis informed his counterparts of the difficulties encountered by his country in finding more than two candidates meeting the conditions set out in Article 16 of the European Public Prosecutor's Office Regulation.
For Mr Reynders, this is "a justifiable but extraordinary situation", which is prompting the Commission to consider, in order to break the deadlock, an amendment to the operating rules of the selection panel to allow the panel to recruit from two eligible candidates in exceptional and justified cases, he explained.
The second major challenge: "the European Public Prosecutor's Office must receive the funding it deserves", said the Commissioner.
At the end of March, the European Commission had already proposed an additional €3.3 million for the 2020 budget (see EUROPE 12456/25), he noted. As for the 2021 budget, Didier Reynders assured attendees that he had not forgotten the request for a budget increase presented by the European Chief Prosecutor (see EUROPE 12420/9), Laura Codruţa Kövesi, and that discussions were ongoing. (Original version in French by Marion Fontana)