Prodi pushes for prosecutor to boost fight against fraud

Date: 03/08/00

By Simon Taylor

THE European Commission will propose appointing a European public prosecutor to tackle fraud across the EU next month, despite strong opposition to the idea from some Union governments.

In a paper to be published in early September, Commission President Romano Prodi will call for the issue to be addressed as part of the ongoing EU treaty reform talks. He will argue that the move is essential to increase the Union's effectiveness in tackling systematic fraud cases which cost EU taxpayers billions in lost tax revenue every year.

Under the Commission's plan, the new European prosecutor would be in charge of investigating crimes across the Union and ensuring that cases were brought before national courts. "There is a clear need for a European public prosecutor," said one official. "We will make our case for it to the member states and they cannot reject our proposal until they have seen it. In any case, the Commission reserves the right to make proposals on anything which it thinks is necessary."

But EU governments have already warned the Commission that they will not even discuss plans for a prosecutor during the current Intergovernmental Conference negotiations, even though some - such as Germany, France, the Netherlands and Sweden - are understood to be in favour of the move. They insist that the list of issues to be settled at the IGC should be limited to those vital to prepare for enlargement to ensure that a substantial deal is reached in time for the December summit in Nice.

Many member states, including the UK and Ireland, believe that appointing a European prosecutor would transfer too many powers to the Commission at a time when there are moves to shift responsibility back to member states. They also argue that the Union's new anti-fraud office, which began work six months ago, has not been operational for long enough to decide whether a prosecutor is necessary.

Commission officials admit that it will be difficult for EU governments to accept the proposal. "You are talking about giving the prosecutor federal powers and we all know how the member states react to the f-word at the moment," said one.

But they insist that appointing a prosecutor with European-wide powers is vital to ensure that the Union can combat fraudsters who are taking advantage of the abolition of internal customs barriers within the Union and the lack of coordination between member states' legal systems.

In its initial proposal for changes to the EU treaty drawn up in January, the Commission set out the case for a public prosecutor, stating: "Fraud often goes across borders while national police and judicial authorities can only act on their own territory." It added that traditional judicial assistance and police cooperation arrangements were "cumbersome" and "mostly ill-suited to effectively fighting cross-border fraud", and argued that appointing a public prosecutor would be the best way to set up a system of rules to govern criminal proceedings in cases of cross-border swindling.

The Commission's argument is supported by the independent committee of wise men whose first report on the allegations of fraud and mismanagement within the Union executive led to the resignation of the Santer team.

In its second report on the Commission's financial controls, published last September, the committee argued that setting up a public prosecutor's office was essential as part of a broader initiative to create a new framework for prosecuting and punishing criminal offences affecting the EU's financial interests.

The wise men said the prosecutor should have "unrestricted jurisdiction" to investigate and punish offences committed by Union officials without any restrictions on the basis of official immunity or confidentiality.

The European Commission is to propose appointing a European public prosecutor to tackle fraud across the EU, despite strong opposition to the idea from some Union governments.