Despite the delay due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office is continuing to set up with a view to being fully operational in November 2020, according to an informal (‘non-paper’) document from the European Commission dated 28 September, of which EUROPE has been given a copy.
According to the document, staff recruitment is well underway, and the 70 posts planned for 2020 should be filled before the end of the year. Development of the business management system (CMS) is also ongoing and is expected to be completed in October.
On the other hand, bilateral discussions between Laura Codruța Kövesi, who heads the European Public Prosecutor’s Office, and national authorities to determine the number of European Delegated Prosecutors required for each member state (see EUROPE 12420/9) are still ongoing and have been “considerably slowed down” by the pandemic, the document says.
Work on the future premises of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office, located in Tower B on the Kirchberg Plateau in Luxembourg, has also been delayed due to the pandemic and is not expected to be completed until early 2021. But this will have no impact on the starting date of the European Public Prosecutor's Office’s operations, assures the Commission, since staff will be able to continue working at the transitional workplace in Luxembourg until then.
The Commission is also closely monitoring the transposition of the PFI Directive on the protection of the EU’s financial interests, which is a precondition for the operational start of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (see EUROPE 12290/20). So far, 23 Member States have notified the Commission that they have transposed the Directive in its entirety, while three Member States - two of which are participating in the European Public Prosecutor’s Office - have declared that they have transposed it in part.
According to the document, the Commission also continues to monitor legal and administrative adjustments by the Member States, which are necessary to comply with the Regulation implementing the European Public Prosecutor’s Office.
For their part, the Member States’ ambassadors to the EU (Coreper) are expected to approve a letter on Wednesday 30 September to the Selection Committee (see EUROPE 12182/6) that assessed the professional qualifications and merits of the candidates for the posts of European Public Prosecutor and Chief European Public Prosecutor to commend its work. (Original version in French by Marion Fontana)