UK to resist calls for EU public prosecutor

Date: 30/09/1999

By Simon Coss

THE UK has vowed to block any attempt to set up a European public prosecutor's office, even though it has been one of the harshest critics of the way the Union's institutions are managed.

British officials say their government will not agree to the creation of a new office, despite the committee of wisemen's insistence that such a body is urgently needed to investigate cases involving alleged misappropriation of EU funds.

In its second report on fraud and mismanagement within the Commission, the committee called for the creation of a European public prosecutor's office to investigate cases involving the embezzlement of EU funds and to help oversee the work of the European Commission's new anti-fraud unit OLAF.

But the UK insists it will stand firm in resisting the idea. "We have always been opposed to such suggestions and our position on that point has not changed," said one official.

At present, prosecutions in criminal cases involving EU money must be brought by national prosecutors' offices. This means that the same case often has to be tried in several member states, with no one representing the Union as a whole. The ongoing investigations into alleged fraud involving the 1990 European Year of Tourism are, for example, being handled by prosecutors in Belgium, Greece and France.

The UK, supported by several other Union member states including Denmark, argues that setting up a European public prosecutor's office would undermine the sovereignty of national judicial systems to an unacceptable degree. "They want to keep the right to say what is and what is not a crime," explained one EU diplomat.

New Justice and Home Affairs Commissioner Antonio Vitorino said at a meeting of the European Parliament's committee on citizens' freedoms and rights last week that he agreed with the wise men on the need for a public prosecutor's office.

But the Commissioner's ability to influence governments on this issue is extremely limited, as any decision to set up the office would have to be agreed by all 15 EU governments.

On the specific question of OLAF, the wise men said a special chamber of the independent European Court of First Instance should be set up to oversee the unit's work.

But the UK has also declared its opposition to any changes in the way OLAF is monitored.

The UK has vowed to block any attempt to set up a European public prosecutor's office, even though it has been one of the harshest critics of the way the European Union's institutions are managed. British officials say their government will not agree to the creation of a new office, despite the committee of wise men's insistence that such a body is urgently needed to investigate cases involving alleged misappropriation of EU funds.