On Wednesday 7 April, Laura Kövesi, European Chief Prosecutor of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office, wrote to the European Commission proposing 1 June as the date on which the European Public Prosecutor’s Office could officially start its investigative work.
“Key decisions for the establishment of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office have been adopted, staff for the central office in Luxembourg have been recruited, a fully operational case management system is ready for use, working arrangements with relevant partners have been adopted or are in their finalisation phases, etc.”, the new body emphasises in a press release.
On Thursday 8 April, on Twitter the European Commissioner for Justice, Didier Reynders, confirmed that he had received the letter.
“If the agreements on the nominations of European Delegated Prosecutors and preparatory steps can be concluded shortly between Member States and the European Public Prosecutor’s Office, we will swiftly support this decision for the start of the operations”, he said.
In view of the slow pace of appointments of European Delegated Prosecutors (see EUROPE 12669/4), the Commissioner had estimated in mid-March that the European Public Prosecutor’s Office could start its work with a reduced number of prosecutors (see EUROPE 12676/27).
So far, only 40 European Delegated Prosecutors from 10 Member States have been appointed out of the 140 expected from the 22 participating countries.
Details of the European Delegated Prosecutors appointed by country can be found at: https://bit.ly/2PMf1JB (Original version in French by Marion Fontana)