Abstract
These introductory remarks deal with the reasons why the EPPO is perceived by some as a controversial body. These reasons are mirrored with the problem identification and the causes thereof. The size of EU fraud and related corruption and money laundering, both at the income and expenditure side, is quite significant. There is also a strong enforcement deficit in the Member States, especially in the case of complex transnational VAT and customs fraud cases. Three fields of action are potentially of interest for the EPPO: VAT, customs and smuggling, and fraud and corruption within the EU institutions. This leads to the analysis of what the potential added value of the EPPO could be, both from a technical fraud perspective as from a political legitimacy perspective. Finally, the introduction deals with the ongoing negotiations on the EPPO proposal, taking into account the mandate and rationale of Article 86 TFEU in the framework of the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice.
The author is full time professor of economic and European criminal law at Utrecht Law School and professor of European criminal law at the College of Europe in Bruges. He is also president of the world Association for Criminal Law, AIDP (Paris).
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Notes
- 1.
- 2.
Csúri 2016.
- 3.
Erkelens et al. 2015.
- 4.
ECLAN: European Criminal Law Academic Network.
- 5.
Conference programme available at: http://www.iee-ulb.eu/files/attachments/.1292/ECLAN_final_programme.pdf (accessed January 2017).
- 6.
PIF: French acronym: Protection des Intérêts Financiers (de l’Union européenne).
- 7.
OLAF: French acronym: Office européen de la Lutte Antifraude.
- 8.
See for example OLAF 2016: “In 2015, OLAF opened 219 new investigations. It concluded 304 investigations, which represents a new record for the Office.” (p. 3).
- 9.
European Court of Auditors 2015, no. 24.
- 10.
Article 3, para 2 TEU: The Union shall offer its citizens an area of freedom, security and justice without internal frontiers, in which the free movement of persons is ensured in conjunction with appropriate measures with respect to external border controls, asylum, immigration and the prevention and combating of crime.
- 11.
Delmas-Marty 1997.
- 12.
Delmas-Marty and Vervaele 2001.
- 13.
Commission of the European Communities 2001.
- 14.
Commission staff working document impact assessment 2013.
- 15.
Ligeti and Simonato 2013.
- 16.
Weyembergh and Brière 2016.
- 17.
See Weyembergh and Brière 2018.
References
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Commission staff working document impact assessment (2013) Accompanying the Proposal for a Council Regulation on the establishment of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office. SWD (2013) 274 final. Available at http://ec.europa.eu/justice/criminal/files/eppo_impact_assessment_en.pdf. Accessed January 2017
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Vervaele, J.A. (2018). The European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO): Introductory Remarks. In: Geelhoed, W., Erkelens, L., Meij, A. (eds) Shifting Perspectives on the European Public Prosecutor's Office. T.M.C. Asser Press, The Hague. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-6265-216-3_2
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