The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has dismissed an appeal by a Romanian citizen against an order of the General Court of the European Union of July 2023 declaring that it had no jurisdiction to rule on the legality of decisions by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office concerning him, in a judgment handed down on Thursday 16 April (Case C-328/24 P).
A Romanian citizen is challenging the decision of the Tenth Permanent Chamber of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) ordering him to appear before the Regional Court of Bucharest on charges of criminal conspiracy and complicity in the use of false documents to obtain European funds.
In its judgment, the CJEU notes that the General Court should have examined the substance of the dispute before declaring that it had no jurisdiction in this case. Having carried out this examination itself, it confirmed the dismissal of the Romanian citizen’s appeal.
The Court finds that the Treaties (Article 86 TFEU) authorise the EU legislature to lay down special rules for the judicial review of procedural acts of the EPPO, having regard to the latter’s organisation and tasks. In accordance with the Regulation (2017/1939) establishing the EPPO, the latter conducts its investigations in accordance with the national law of the Member States concerned and prosecutes the accused before the courts of those Member States.
The Court points out that the legal effects of the EPPO’s procedural acts depend, to a large extent, on the law of the Member State concerned and that the final decision on criminal proceedings conducted by the European Public Prosecutor rests with the national courts. It also notes that the activities of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office remain subject to judicial review by the General Court and the Court of Justice.
The European Court of Justice concludes that the European legislator has correctly complied with the division of powers between the national courts and the CJEU.
To see the judgment of the Court of Justice: https://aeur.eu/f/ll3 (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)