The ambassadors of the Member States to the European Union (Coreper) on Friday 19 February authorised MEPs to access certain internal Council of the EU documents relating to appointments to the European Public Prosecutor’s Office, but under strict conditions.
Concerned about possible national interference, the European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties (LIBE) had formally requested, in early February, access to documents concerning the appointments of Portuguese, Belgian and Bulgarian public prosecutors to the European Public Prosecutor’s Office, where the selected candidate was not the first choice of the selection committee (see EUROPE 12649/34). A few days later, the Committee on Budgetary Control (CONT) made the same request.
In a letter addressed to the chairpersons of the two parliamentary committees, as seen by EUROPE, the EU Council authorised the release of several documents as part of a “special, classified session” to take place in the European Parliament, in camera, and to which access would be restricted to members of the LIBE and CONT committees only.
To justify such precautions, the EU Council explains that a significant number of these documents are classified as ‘restricted’ and their content may only be shared under the strict conditions laid down in the 2014 Interinstitutional Agreement on classified information.
The shared documents are particularly sensitive not only in terms of internal EU Council decision-making procedures, but also because of the need to protect the privacy and integrity of the individuals whose personal data they contain, including the assessment of their merits, the letter points out.
Among the documents that the EU Council agreed to provide are the opinions of the Selection Committee on the candidates from these countries, the results of several meetings of members of the JHA Council configuration and letters to the unsuccessful candidates.
Note that in the case of Bulgaria, the following will also be presented: - a letter from the Bulgarian Permanent Representative to the EU informing the EU Council of the withdrawal of the candidate ranked first by the selection committee, Ms Desislava Pironeva, from the nomination process due to another appointment at national level, - and the “written observations” from Bulgaria.
For the Portuguese prosecutor, MEPs will have access to the famous “letter of rectification” presented by the Portuguese authorities regarding the curriculum vitae of the candidate José Guerra (see EUROPE 12634/11). (Original version in French by Marion Fontana)