WRITTEN QUESTION E-3461/02 by Christopher Heaton-Harris (PPE-DE) to the Commission. The establishment of a European Public Prosecutor.
Date: 2002-12-06
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU law, European judicial area, European official, United Kingdom, corpus juris (EU), criminal procedure, legal system, national law, public prosecutor's department

C 268 E/34

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

7.11.2003

Answer given by Mrs Schreyer on behalf of the Commission

(31 January 2003)

For almost ten years, at the request of the Parliament and the Commission, groups of experts in criminal
law from all the Member States have been working on the subject of the protection of the financial
interests of the Community. The result of their work was established in a comprehensive study including
recommendations for the protection of the Community’s financial interests by criminal law, the ‘Corpus
Juris’ (1). These have inspired the preparation of the Commission’s Green Paper on criminal law protection
of the financial interests of the Community and the establishment of a European Prosecutor (2).

However, the Commission has identified its own preferences. The Corpus Juris suggested a higher level of
harmonisation of general criminal
law (Articles 9 to 17) and the laws of evidence (Article 32) and
questioned the ability of non-professional judges to try complex cross-border financial cases [Article 26(1)].
The Commission (Green Paper) considers that the individual Member States’ legal order must be respected
in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity. More generally, in its proposals, the Commission has
concentrated on the pre-trial phase and has suggested reliance on national law and national systems as far
as possible.

(1) Corpus Juris introducing penal provisions for the purpose of protecting the financial interests of the European
Union, under the responsibility of M. Delmas-Marty, Economica, Paris, 1997. The Implementation of the Corpus
Juris in the Member States, M. Delmas-Marty/J. A. E. Vervaele, Intersentia, Utrecht, 2000 (4 volumes).

(2) COM(2001) 715 final.

(2003/C 268 E/038)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3461/02

by Christopher Heaton-Harris (PPE-DE) to the Commission

Subject: The establishment of a European Public Prosecutor

(6 December 2002)

Could the Commission outline which laws in the UK would have to be amended to allow the European
Public Prosecutor to function properly?

Answer given by Mrs Schreyer on behalf of the Commission

(5 February 2003)

The proposal to establish a European Prosecutor has been recently discussed in the Green Paper on
criminal-law protection of the financial interests of the Community and the establishment of a European
Prosecutor (1). This paper, which was prepared by the Commission, is a consultative document to be used
as a basis for an open discussion.

In the Commission’s view the European Public Prosecutor should be created by inserting a general
provision in the future European Constitutional Treaty but confined to what is necessary to establish the
Prosecutor and to define his tasks and main function. The rules governing his functioning would then be
adopted by the Council and the Parliament through subsequent secondary legislation.

In order to attain the objectives of a European Prosecutor for the protection of the financial interests of the
Community as outlined in the Green Paper as well as to respect the subsidiarity principle, the European
Prosecutor would need to be incorporated into the judicial systems of each of the Member States.

The Commission also wishes to call the attention of the Honourable Member to the ‘Corpus Juris’ study (2),
which consists of comparative studies by experts in criminal law from all the Member States. This includes
a legal impact assessment on the laws of England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

(1) COM(2001) 715 final.
(2) The Implementation of the Corpus Juris in the Member States, M. Delmas-Marty/J. A. E. Vervaele, Intersentia,

Utrecht, 2000 (4 volumes).