Original scientific paper
Substantive and Procedural Law Preconditions for the Work of the European Public Prosecutor in Croatia: Unfulfilled Implementing Obligations Arising from the Directive and the Risk of Lowering of Standards of an Effective Procedure by the Regulation
Zlata Đurđević
orcid.org/0000-0003-0155-442X
; Faculty of Law, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
This paper examines the fulfilment of substantive and procedural law preconditions in the Member States for the seamless and efficient functioning of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office. The first part of the paper examines the fulfilment of the implementing obligations arising
from the provisions of the Directive on the fight against fraud to the Union’s financial interests, through amendments to the 2018 Criminal Code, by focusing on VAT fraud, and public procurement fraud and embezzlement by public officials affecting EU budget expenditures, and points to weaknesses in transposing the Directive into the Croatian criminal legislation. In the second part, issues are analysed regarding the internal structure of the EPPO, the lack of operational powers of the Chief European Public Prosecutor as well as his/her responsibilities for the work of the entire EPPO, the problems of the members of the Permanent Chambers in understanding the language in which the procedure is conducted, the disregard for the rights of the defence in criminal proceedings on the European Public Prosecutor’s request, and the problem of fragmentation of the legal framework for his/her activities. Finally, the author emphasises some problems that the implementation of the Regulation introduces in the criminal procedure.
Keywords
European Public Prosecutor; protection of the Union’s financial interests; fraud to the Union’s financial interests; criminal procedure
Hrčak ID:
244938
URI
Publication date:
15.10.2020.
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