MEPs have voted in favour of an interim report on the creation of a European public prosecutor's office (EPPO). For a number of years, the commission has been working on the establishment of an independent body that would take charge of investigating and prosecuting offences under the EU budget, something that currently falls under the competence of the member states.
The commission estimates that fraud against EU financial interests, for example falsely claiming subsidies, results in an annual loss of over €500m.
Rapporteur Monica Macovei said, "we must protect our citizens' money, as all the money is in the same basket. We will lose out if we don't fight against these criminal activities".
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The EPP deputy explained that "the EPPO will be the guardian of our citizens' money […] and will bring cases forward before the competent courts in compliance with national legal systems, protecting taxpayers' money and restoring people's trust in the EU institutions."
Nevertheless, the Romanian MEP stressed that "member states' law enforcement authorities will not be replaced" by this new office, but that it will simply be an additional tool to assist them in their work.
She underlined that the EPPO would "bring a real added value as it will be able to carry out independent investigations with streamlined procedures in cross-border cases and in full respect of the fundamental rights of the suspects in criminal proceedings".
Parliament's S&D group welcomed the outcome of the vote, but their group spokesperson on the issue Sylvia-Yvonne Kaufmann insisted that "the EPPO must work independently from any political influence, there must be a clear division of competence between the EPPO and the national authorities and we need a high standard of procedural rights for suspected or accused persons".
Tanja Fajon, a vice-chair of the Socialist group, said, "law enforcement against these crimes is insufficient. If national authorities don't take action, we will have to foot the bill. That's why generally we support the creation of an EPPO. But we are not issuing the member states a blank cheque for our consent at the end of the legislative process".
She highlighted that, "the European parliament has a key role in the establishment of the EPPO - without our consent, there will be no such institution".
Jan Albrecht, Greens/EFA group spokesperson on justice and home affairs, pointed out that "the EU prosecutor cannot be allowed to act unilaterally. Any decision on, for example, the choice of jurisdiction or on indictment or the closure of a case must first be reviewed by a court".
He added, "the report also highlights the importance of ensuring uniform and consistent rights for defendants so legal standards cannot be circumvented by picking and choosing the legal regime most favourable to a case".