Laura Codruţa KÖVESI, EU Chief Prosecutor, presents the state of play on establishing the European Public Prosecutor's Office, expected to be up and running by the end of this year, to the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) in association with the Committee on Budgetary Control (CONT) of the European Parliament, in Brussels.

Brussels

meeting

European Public Prosecutor's Office (T)

KÖVESI, Laura Codruţa (RO)

Establishment of the European Public Prosecutor Office: extracts from the presentation of the state of play by Laura Codruţa KÖVESI, EU Chief Prosecutor

Arrival of Laura Codruţa K&Ouml;VESI, EU Chief Prosecutor (2 shots)

SOUNDBITE (English), Laura Codru&#355;a K&#214;VESI, EU Chief Prosecutor, My very conservative estimates is that the European Delegated Prosecutors will have to see through at least 3000 cases to decide which cases to advocate and which ones to refer back to national prosecution services, within the strict deadline said by the EPPO regulation. We have to make sure that the EPPO can further develop, in order to bring true added value in line with the aim for which it has been created. Honourable Members, we cannot achieve all of this with 22 and 1/4 European Delegated Prosecutors, 22 European Prosecutors and 29 EPPO staff in the central office, as it is currently planned.

SOUNDBITE (English), Laura Codru&#355;a K&#214;VESI, EU Chief Prosecutor, <p>If you want to do a serious job, if you want to demonstrate the added value of the EPPO from day one, if you want a truly independent EPPO, we have to start with full-time European Delegated Prosecutors only. And we need at least two of them per Member State, which incidentally is perfectly in line with EPPO regulation. Last December, as I spoke in the LIBE Committee, I have asked you the same question as I have asked the justice Ministers on that same day. "Do we want to have an EPPO just to say that we have it, or do you want the EPPO to be en efficient institution?</p>

SOUNDBITE (English), Laura Codru&#355;a K&#214;VESI, EU Chief Prosecutor, <p>I want the EPPO to become a centre of excellence for the seizure of criminal assets. I also want the EPPO to become a game-changer in the fight against cross-border VAT fraud. You might have read, as I did, the latest study by the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, trying to quantify the cross-border VAT fraud in the EU: between 30 to 60 billion Euro each year. I think it is worth investing in the EPPO.</p>