The Slovenian Minister of Justice, Minister Marjan Dikaučič, repeatedly told MEPs in the Committee on Civil Liberties (LIBE), on Wednesday 1 September, that the Slovenian government was continuing to work towards the appointment of its European Delegated Prosecutors.
“We are working with the aim that the European Public Prosecutor’s Office can be operational as soon as possible. It is an independent body and Slovenia wishes to participate in it fully”, he reiterated.
Pressed by several MEPs to explain the reasons for the delay, Mr Dikaučič recalled that the Slovenian government’s first call for applications to appoint its European Delegated Prosecutors had been unsuccessful (see EUROPE 12764/31), with the government adopting a decision declaring the call “ unsuccessful”.
“But this decision was adopted before I became minister”, said Mr Dikaučič, who joined the government last June after Lilijana Kozlovič resigned. It was precisely this decision to renew this call that led the former minister to leave office.
A second call for applications was therefore launched and closed at the end of July. The two candidates who had applied in the first call tried their luck again, but apparently without much success, the Slovenian news agency STA reported at the time.
The two candidates in question have “initiated a legal action which is expected to go to trial soon, the courts are looking into this matter urgently”, the minister told MEPs.
“We are waiting for a judicial solution to this issue in Slovenia and we will fully comply with the judgment”, Mr Dikaučič further promised.
Electronic evidence
The Minister was invited by the Parliamentary Committee to present his priorities for the Slovenian Presidency of the EU Council.
In particular, he indicated that he would aim for a “breakthrough” or even an Interinstitutional Agreement on the main dossier he will have to deal with: that of electronic evidence, which was the subject of a new meeting of the EU Council’s Working Party on Judicial Cooperation in Criminal Matters (COPEN) the same day (see EUROPE 12778/2).
He also recalled that the Slovenian Presidency would work towards the adoption of EU Council conclusions on the EU strategy on the rights of the child, as discussed with his European counterparts last July (see EUROPE 12764/5). (Original version in French by Agathe Cherki)