The European chief prosecutor has asked Spain for help to provide police officers for the cases investigated by the body she directs. Laura Codruța Kövesi has visited the headquarters in Spain of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) and has met with the Ministers of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, and Justice, Félix Bolaños, to whom she has claimed that the Government assigns Spanish police officers to collaborate with the EPPO. Kövesi has warned of the operational needs of his organization and has asked that Spain act in a manner analogous to what it already does by assigning agents to the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office. The European Public Prosecutor’s Office does not currently have its own police officers.
“I have had a frank and constructive meeting with both ministers, and we agreed that, after this period of mutual knowledge, the operational activities of the EPPO in Spain must reach a higher level. Concretely, this means that I cannot accept that the EPPO is prevented from exercising its competence due to lack of resources,” the prosecutor, accompanied by Minister Bolaños, said in a press conference. Kövesi has emphasized his request: “What I request is simple and already known to everyone: police officers dedicated to working on EPPO cases.” The prosecutor highlighted that the organization also needs “more European delegate prosecutors and more support staff.”
The prosecutor has insisted that the collaboration of the police that she requests would follow the pattern of collaboration with Anti-Corruption. “It is neither more nor less than the model that already exists in Spain with the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office. “I am a great defender of this model.” Under this scheme, agents would investigate in the EPPO offices under the direction of European delegated prosecutors. Kövesi, who was attorney general and anti-corruption prosecutor in his country, Romania, has directed the EPPO since its creation three years ago, the first transnational prosecutor’s office, which is specialized in financial crimes that affect the financial interests of the European Union.
The prosecutor has justified her new visit to Madrid, three years after the first, to meet with the Ministers of the Interior and Justice and convey her request to them. “Three years ago I understood from the national authorities that they needed some time to become familiar with the European Public Prosecutor’s Office, to understand what we do and how we work,” explained Kövesi, who has acknowledged that the body he directs has seen the enemy grow since then. which he faces. “When we started operating, in June 2021, we did not expect to see what we are seeing. The EPPO was created with the assumption that it would occasionally confront organized crime groups. In fact, very quickly, we are finding that we are faced with criminals who do not avoid resorting to extreme violence. “We expected our job to be protecting the EU Budget, but we have discovered that it is also about protecting our internal security,” he specified.
To support his request, Kövesi has referred in passing to the Koldo case, that investigates the corrupt plot that, supposedly, nested in the Ministry of Transport during the worst of the pandemic (March 2020) and earned 15 million euros in a very short time with the sale of millions of masks at 2.5 euros per unit . “Even the Supreme Court has highlighted in the recent decision that assigned the Koldo case to the National Court the lack of a police support unit as a reason for not assigning the case to the EPPO,” he argued. “We are also investigating corruption, and we want to do it with the same standards required in Spain. The EPPO investigates corruption when it is linked to the financial interests of the European Union, and we will continue to investigate corruption in Spain. “We are here to stay,” added the prosecutor, who highlighted that the cases handled by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office are “complex” because “they involve transnational organized crime.” “Their number will continue to increase,” he ventured.
“We agreed with both ministers that, whether organized crime smuggles migrants or steals money from the EU, it is the same organized crime,” said the prosecutor finally, who assured that the head of the Interior has committed to reevaluate the situation and to inform her about “how we can continue to improve together.”
#European #Chief #Prosecutor #accept #European #Public #Prosecutors #Office #prevented #exercising #jurisdiction #due #lack #resources