EU prosecutor

The balance of power between international fraudsters who pay no heed to state borders and national law enforcement organisations who are restricted by them has long been a cause for concern. However, the reluctance of sovereign states to relinquish power over their respective police forces means that development of international crime fighting teams with real muscle has been slow. Nonetheless, Interpol has battled against cross-border crime for decades and in the late 1990s Europol and the independent EU anti-fraud office OLAF were established. The European Commission has now formally tabled a further measure, the creation of a European Prosecutor who would have authority to launch investigations into frauds committed against the institutions of the European Union. In a statement, the Commission said: “The new prosecutor would be in charge of investigations into cases affecting the EU Community’s interests and prosecutions in the national courts. So he would not be taking the place of the national courts, least of all in terms of delivering a verdict. But he would make their task easier by presenting evidence obtained across the entire Union, helping them to overcome the obstacles posed by the fragmentation of jurisdiction among 15, (and soon more), member states, each with their own rules and procedures.”