Professional paper
The Role and Position of the European Public Prosecutor in Croatian Preliminary Proceedings
Tamara Laptoš
orcid.org/0000-0001-6786-539X
; Državno odvjetništvo Republike Hrvatske
Abstract
Financial interests of the European Union are not sufficiently protected nowadays, and VAT-related cross-border frauds account for much of the losses in national budgets. Existing EU bodies, the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF), the European Union’s judicial cooperation unit (Eurojust) and the European Union’s law enforcement agency (Europol) lack the necessary powers to conduct criminal investigations and prosecute perpetrators of criminal offences committed to the detriment of financial interests of the European Union.
Therefore, EU Member States concluded that in order to combat perpetrators of criminal offences committed to the detriment of the European Union's financial interests, enhanced cooperation is needed by setting up an independent and highly specialized prosecutor's office, whose prosecutors will conduct investigations in a coordinated manner in all participating Member States, and swiftly exchange information and join forces to ensure coordinated investigations, rapid seizure and confiscation of assets in order to protect the European Union's financial interests as effectively as possible.
The integration of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (hereinafter: EPPO) into the national legal systems of the participating Member States will require changes in certain legislation, including in the Republic of Croatia. Therefore, the criminal justice system of the Republic of Croatia will have to undergo certain adjustments and changes. The manner in which prosecutors and other criminal proceedings participants work and act will need to be adjusted especially in the preliminary proceedings in which EPPO will perform all actions and assume the rights and obligations of the prosecutors through the European Delegated Prosecutors.
Keywords
European Public Prosecutor's Office; european prosecutors; european delegated prosecutors; financial interest of the EU; Council Regulation of imeplementing enhanced cooperation on the establishment of the EPPO; PIF Directive.
Hrčak ID:
230337
URI
Publication date:
19.12.2019.
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