Eurojust seeks wider powers to battle cross-border crime

Eurojust wants to be given the power to issue arrest warrants, seize goods and order prosecutions and investigations in order better to help member states deal with cross-border crimes, according to a paper by the EU body.

Representatives from EU member states which make up Eurojust should also have access to national police and judicial databases, the paper adds.

The document has been written in anticipation of a European Commission report, due before the end of the year, which will suggest changes to Eurojust.

The paper adds that Eurojust is ready to take on the role of a European public prosecutor when it comes to investigating fraud in the EU institutions, as set down in the reform treaty.

But some member states, notably the UK, are reluctant to create such a body which they fear would infringe on the role played by national prosecutors. Franco Frattini, the European commissioner for justice, freedom and security, would like to go further and has said he is in favour of a European prosecutor capable of directing national police to carry out investigations on cross-border drugs crimes, counter-terrorism and fraud.

"Eurojust feels that the exercise of additional tasks is paramount for it in order to achieve its objectives and fully contribute to facilitating judicial co-operation," the paper states. These "additional tasks" could include the issuing of European arrest warrants, monitoring how states help criminal investigations in other member states by carrying out inquiries on their own territory, leading teams from member states investigating cross-border crimes and authorising drugs deliveries to pass through a number of member states unimpeded to allow for a full inquiry into the crime.

In emergency situations Eurojust should be able to order property and goods to be frozen and seized, the paper says.

Michael Kennedy, the president of Eurojust, who steps down from the post later this month, has previously spoken of the difficulties of some representatives from member states having less power than others to issue orders and direct investigations.

The paper states that Eurojust needs more staff to deal with its current caseload.

It outlines competition, overlapping and friction with other EU bodies including Europol, the EU police bureau, Olaf, the anti-fraud office, and the European Judicial Network (EJN), a body which allows greater co-operation between member states’ judicial authorities.

Eurojust complains that it "does not receive all information within its respective competence from Europol and that Eurojust is sometimes informed and/or involved at a later stage, thereby preventing Eurojust from fully fulfilling its role".

The document says that there should be a "formal and clear mutual obligation" for Olaf and Eurojust to inform each other of relevant cases.

There is "no common understanding or interpretation of the similar tasks and role of Eurojust and the EJN" which gives rise to "mixed experiences in the member states", the paper says.

Eurojust wants to be given the power to issue arrest warrants, seize goods and order prosecutions and investigations in order better to help member states deal with cross-border crimes, according to a paper by the EU body.