92002E3461

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3461/02

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

(6 December 2002)

Subject: The establishment of a European Public Prosecutor

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).