From 16 to 17 September, Amélie Beauchemin attended a conference on the EPPO and the Protection of the European Union’s financial interests, held at the Fondazione Lelio e Lisli Basso in Rome. She was invited as co-author, with William Julié, of the French chapter of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (“EPPO”) Article-by-article commentary.
The EPPO, which assumed its functions on 1 June 2021,[1] is an independent body of the European Union responsible for investigating, prosecuting and bringing to judgment the perpetrators and accomplices of offences affecting the Union’s financial interests.
Discussions focused on the next steps in the EPPO’s development, and in particular on one central question: will violations of EU restrictive measures soon fall within its competence?
The EPPO already reaches restrictive measures breaches inextricably linked to an offence against the Union’s financial interests,[2] customs fraud being the standard illustration, but it has no general competence over sanctions violations.
A Franco-German proposal was put forward as early as 2022, aiming to ensure that such violations were not only penalised but prosecuted jointly by the EPPO.
Council Decision (EU) 2022/2332 has since recognised the breach of Union restrictive measures as an area of crime meeting the criteria of Article 83(1) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (“TFEU”), and Directive (EU) 2024/1226 followed with common definitions and minimum penalties.
The prospect is closer than it was.
Full competence, however, will require unanimity in the European Council under Article 86(4) TFEU and the consent of the Parliament.
[1] Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2021/856 of 25 May 2021 determining the date on which the European Public Prosecutor’s Office is to assume its investigative and prosecutorial functions.
[2] Article 25(3) of Regulation (EU) 2017/1939 of 12 October 2017 implementing enhanced cooperation on the establishment of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (‘the EPPO’).