MEPs Monika Hohlmeier (EPP, Germany), Esteban González Pons (EPP, Spain), Paulo Rangel (EPP, Portugal), Jeroen Lenaers (EPP, Netherlands) and Daniel Freund (Greens/EFA, Germany) wrote to Portuguese Justice Minister Francisca van Dunem on Monday 3 May asking her to provide the European Parliament with new documents on the appointment of the Portuguese prosecutor to the European Public Prosecutor’s Office.
Concerned about possible national interference, Parliament had formally requested, in early February, access to EU Council documents concerning the nominations of Portuguese, Belgian and Bulgarian prosecutors to the European Public Prosecutor’s Office, for which the selected candidate was not the first choice of the selection committee (see EUROPE 12649/34).
MEPs were finally given access to some documents (see EUROPE 12662/3), but some elements were missing, according to the five MEPs, notably the minutes of the meetings of the EU Council’s Antici Group, which prepares the work of the Committee of Permanent Representatives (Coreper).
In the letter, MEPs state that they were surprised to learn from the Portuguese media last week that several documents on the appointment of the Portuguese prosecutor had been disclosed to the NGO Transparency International Portugal, at the request of a Portuguese administrative authority.
In their view, this shows that the Portuguese Ministry of Justice has therefore refused to provide certain information to the European Parliament in a case concerning a European body. They ask the Ministry to make these documents available to Parliament as a matter of urgency.
See the letter: https://bit.ly/3gW7CTp (Original version in French by Marion Fontana)