This book explores the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO), the creation of which was approved in the Regulation adopted by the Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) Council on 12 October 2017. The EPPO will be an independent European prosecution office tasked with investigating and prosecuting those crimes defined in the recently adopted Regulation 2017/1371 on combating fraud against the Union’s financial interests by means of criminal law. As such, it will be a new actor on the EU landscape, governed by the principle of loyal cooperation with the national prosecuting authorities. This work clarifies some of the challenges that member states will have to face when dealing with a supranational prosecution authority. In addition, it provides guidelines on how to implement the present Regulation while respecting the fundamental rights of defendants in criminal proceedings. The book is of special interest in so far as the analysis and perspective of academics is completed with the contributions of legal experts who have either been involved in the negotiations to establish the European public prosecutor or will be closely linked, as public prosecutors, to the functioning of the future European public prosecutor’s office.

In November 2017, Council Regulation (EU) 2017/1939 implementing enhanced cooperation on the establishment of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (‘EPPO’) entered into force. The EPPO is a new body of the European Union that will investigate and prosecute perpetrators of criminal offences affecting the financial interests of the Union. Being the first EU authority to exercise direct powers vis-à-vis individuals in the field of criminal law, the EPPO represents a paradigm shift in the EU criminal justice field and requires several amendments of national legislation. The Member States that take part in the EPPO enhanced cooperation are currently in the process of implementing the Regulation in order to make their criminal justice systems compatible with its provisions, and allow the EPPO to carry out its activities once the Office will be up and running. Building on the Symposium that took place in Coimbra on 29–30 March 2017, which was co-organised by the European Criminal Law Academic Network (ECLAN) and the Instituto Jurídico of the Law Faculty of the University of Coimbra, this book offers a Comprehensive overview of crucial aspects of this ambitious and debated EU initiative, in both its European and national dimensions. It aims to analyse key issues related to the functioning and legitimacy of the EPPO from a European perspective, such as EPPO independence and material competence, judicial review of its acts, and protection of fundamental rights in the framework of EPPO proceedings. At the same time, it also represents the first publication that, in the wake of the Regulation’s adoption, discusses the challenges that the implementation of this EU legal instrument is currently raising in some Member States, namely Austria, Finland, Germany, Lithuania, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands.

ThIS commentary on the EPPO Regulation is intended to guide practitioners – within EPPO as well as in the national prosecution services and law enforcement agencies, courts, and law offices – in the interpretation of the Regulation. By providing an in-depth analysis of the intricate interplay of the Regulation's provisions and their legal and practical context, it will also provide a valuable source for further academic research on individual aspects relating to the EPPO. In addition, the commentary will assist political decision-makers in assessing the practical implementation of the EPPO Regulation by clarifying its relations to national law and national judicial and law enforcement authorities.

In 2013 the European Commission launched its legislative proposal to create a European Public Prosecutor’s Office. The proposal provoked fierce debates, politically as well as on the academic level. Many national parliaments opposed and submitted formally their grievances to the Commission. Negotiations on the proposal between Member States are still ongoing. The T.M.C. Asser Instituut held the first international conference on this unprecedented proposal. This book reflects the main results of that conference. It provides a concise background of and reasoning for the introduction of this new EU body entrusted with far reaching judicial powers disclosing important legal and policy implications. Within its hitherto limited scope the existing system of judicial cooperation between EU Member States will change fundamentally, directly affecting the functioning of national courts and public prosecutions offices. How will this evolve? This book will help answering fundamental questions involved.

This book provides answers to the following questions. Is there a bright future aheadfor a European Public Prosecutor’s Office? If so, is the regulation establishing the officesufficiently clear and balanced to attain that goal? Moreover, will the office be able toeffectively fight fraud now damaging the EU's budget and will it respect the fundamentalrights of the parties involved? Included are issues ranging from EU substantive and procedural criminal law, combattingEU fraud, the distribution of competences in European law enforcement,EU fundamental rights, to forum choice. The book's aim is to inform academics,policy-makers and criminal law practitioners about key issues surrounding theattribution of prosecutorial powers to an entirely remodelled European Union body. Indoing so, it sheds light on this body, as fundamentally changed by the Council, whichwill undoubtedly have a greater impact on the European criminal justice system thanthe European Arrest Warrant ever did. Dr. Willem Geelhoed is Assistant Professor in criminal law and criminal procedureat the University of Groningen, The Netherlands, and Drs. Leendert H. Erkelensand Prof. Mr. Arjen W.H. Meij are both Visiting Research Fellow at the T.M.C. AsserInstituut in The Hague in The Netherlands, while the latter is also Honorary Professorat the University of Luxembourg.

This book offers a comprehensive account of the creation of the European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO) and the development of a supranational criminal justice system by national and European institutional actors. It analyses the emergence of an EU authority in criminal justice, one of the last bastions of national sovereignty, over time. It explains how and why core state powers were delegated to this new European law enforcement body and how sovereignty was reconfigured in this context. The EPPO is the most recent and most consequential addition to the institutional landscape of EU criminal justice, a domain with enormous potential for further integration but which is exceptionally sensitive regarding national sovereignty, the monopoly on the legitimate use of force, and the fundamental rights and freedoms of the individual. Yet, criminal justice has been a blind spot for many EU scholars and, so far, monopolised by legal analysis. This book examines the most significant EU criminal justice actor with fresh methodological approaches: it adopts a truly interdisciplinary approach involving both legal arguments and political conflicts and tensions. The book, thus, reveals the political dimension of the domain, thereby illuminating how sovereignty is understood by national and European decision-makers today and negotiated in an intricate process of accommodating conflicting norms and interests. Laura Schmeer obtained her Ph.D. in Political and Social Sciences from Université libre de Bruxelles, Belgium, in January 2024. Her work focuses on EU institutions and decision-making, EU bodies and agencies, and the EU Justice and Home Affairs domain.

Originally presented as the author's thesis (doctoral)--Maastricht University, 2011.