The European Public Prosecutor: The View from Transparency International
| Published date | 01 June 2010 |
| DOI | 10.1177/203228441000100202 |
| Date | 01 June 2010 |
| Subject Matter | Analysis & Opinions |
132 Intersentia
ANALYSIS & OPINIONS
THE EUROPEAN PUBLIC PROSECUTOR:
THE VIEW FROM TRANSPARENCY
INTERNATIONAL
Editor’s note:
When an organis ation such as Transparency International, the globa l civil society
organisation leading the ght agai nst corruption, states publicly that it is necessary to
create the oce of t he Eu ropean Public P rosecutor, with a mandate not only to
prosecute crimes that aect the nancial interests of the EU but, in the long-term, also
serious cross-border crimes, such as corruption and ‘other cr imes’, it creates
appreciable momentum and merits carefu l attention.
e statement itself is important. is is why we publish, with the full approval of
Transparency International, t he text of its press release of 20 April 2010 on this topic.
What might the ‘other cri mes’ be?
e reader is reminded of the short article t hat appeared in JECL, Volume 3, Issue
1 entitled ‘e Boiler Room – e Pros ecution of Multi-jurisdictional Crime’ (see
www.jecl.eu) in which Crosby and Houben demonstrate that where one and the same
course of conduct infringes t he criminal law of many Member States, there should be
one centralised prosecut ion, at the hands of an EPP, because otherwise, t here is a risk
that the accused or convicted person wi ll stand trial in and/or be held in investigative
detention by severa l Member States consecutively for t he same oence, the pri nciple
of ne bis in idem notwithsta nding.
In the Spr ing Conference of the Eu ropean Criminal Bar Association on 24 April
2010 it was pointed out from the podium that if increasing ly more Member States
crimina lise participation in hard-core cartels, the EU Commission, i n its role as the
lead competition law enforcement agency or regulator in Europe and as the only body
with jurisdiction throughout the EU, r isks m arginalisation, unless it too is given
crimina l powers.
ese examples show that “other crimes” is a broad ter m.
Transparency International has l aid down a challenge.
As far as this jou rnal is concerned, the debate can now be declared open.
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