PROGRAMME Hearing. The European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO) and the European Union's Judicial cooperation Unit (EUROJUST)

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1 EUROPEAN PARLIAMT Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs LIBE(2016)0523_2 PROGRAMME Hearing The European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO) and the European Union's Judicial cooperation Unit (EUROJUST) Tuesday 24 May 2016, European Parliament, Brussels Room: JAN 6Q2 United in diversity

2 Background On 17 July 2013, the European Commission presented a legislative package in the area of criminal justice cooperation including a proposal for a Regulation on the establishment of the European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO) and a proposal for a Regulation to reform Eurojust. The EPPO proposal is decided under the consent procedure (Article 86 TFEU), while the Eurojust one falls under co decision (Article 85 TFEU). According to the Commission proposal, the EPPO would investigate, prosecute and bring to judgment the perpetrators of offences affecting the Union's financial interests. It would have exclusive and EU-wide jurisdiction to deal with (suspicions of) criminal behaviour falling within its remits. The EPPO would be a body of the Union, headed by a European Public Prosecutor, with a decentralised structure involving and integrating the national law enforcement authorities. To ensure that the position of the European Parliament is fully taken into account in the Council negotiations, two interim reports have been adopted by the Parliament, respectively, in April 2014 and March These resolutions called, in particular, for a fully independent Public Prosecutor s Office both from national governments and from EU institutions, a clear division of jurisdiction between EPPO and national authorities, an efficient structure, the right to a judicial remedy at all times in respect of the EPPO's activity, a coherent legal protection for suspected and accused persons and adequate protection of personal data. The negotiations in the Council have brought about significant changes to the Commission proposal. A consolidated text composed of the first thirty-five articles of the regulation was issued last December by the Council. According to this text, the EPPO will be a collegial body composed of a European Prosecutor from each Member State, organised in permanent Chambers that will have concurrent jurisdiction with the national prosecution services. It is worth noting that the material competence of the EPPO is to be defined by the Directive on the fight against fraud to the Union s financial interests by means of criminal law which is not adopted yet ( PIF directive). The Council is currently working on the relations of EPPO with third parties, non-participant Member States and other bodies of the Union such as OLAF and Eurojust, on data protection and on financial and staff provisions. The Council`s discussion on the provision on judicial review which is another important issue for the Parliament is not yet concluded. The Commission proposal on the reform of Eurojust aimed at improving efficiency, in terms of management and on the ground, of Eurojust's work, bringing up to date its data protection regime as well as increasing its democratic legitimacy. It also contained provisions related to the future Eurojust support to the EPPO's work. The Council general approach, which dates from 27 February 2015, brought about some changes to the Commission proposal, such as regarding powers of national members, managerial structure and data protection regime. This hearing aims at bringing together representatives of the EU institutions, experts and practitioners to discuss the state of play of the negotiations and its implications in the functioning of the future EPPO and Eurojust. 2/5

3 Opening statements by: Mr Claude Moraes, MEP, Chair of the LIBE Committee Mr Arie IJzerman, Deputy Director-General for the Administration of Justice and Law Enforcement, Ministry of Security and Justice of the Netherlands, The Netherlands Presidency of the Council Session 1. The competences of the EPPO: tackling effectively PIF crimes fraud Moderator: Mr Claude Moraes, MEP, Chair of the LIBE Committee Key note speeches Ms Ingeborg Graessle, MEP, Chair of the CONT Committee and Ms Sylvia-Yvonne Kaufmann, MEP, Member of the LIBE Committee Mr Nicholas Franssen, Chair of the Council working party on the EPPO regulation, The Netherlands Presidency of the Council. Ms Alexandra Jour Schroeder, acting Director Criminal law, DG justice, European Commission Session 2: Enhancing Eurojust and the relations between EPPO, Eurojust and Olaf Moderator: Mr Axel Voss, MEP, Rapporteur on the draft Eurojust Regulation Ms Michèle Coninsx, President of Eurojust Mr Giovanni Kessler, Director General of OLAF Session 3. EPPO: judicial review Moderator: Ms Barbara Matera, MEP, Rapporteur on the EPPO Mr Yves Bot, Advocate General to the Court of Justice of the European Union Ms Maria José Martinez, Director, European Parliament Legal Service Ms Thérèse Blanchet, Director Justice and Home affairs, Council Legal 3/5

4 Service Mr Ignazio Patrone, Deputy General Prosecutor, Supreme Court, Italy Conclusions by Ms Věra Jourová, Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality Closing remarks Ms Barbara Matera, MEP, Rapporteur on EPPO and Mr Axel Voss, MEP, Rapporteur on Eurojust 4/5

5 IMPORTANT NOTICE FOR THOSE WISHING TO ATTD THE MEETING This meeting is open to the public. However, for security reasons, participants who do not have a European Parliament access badge must obtain a pass in advance. Those wishing to obtain such a pass should contact the secretariat (libe-secretariat@europarl.europa.eu). The deadline for registration is Friday 20 May, at noon. It is essential to provide us with your last name, first name, date of birth, nationality, type of ID (passport, identity card, driving licence, etc.), number of ID. Without this information, the Security Service will not provide entry passes.1 PRACTICAL GUIDELINES FOR THE DEBATE During the discussion, so as to make it possible for the highest number of parliamentarians to intervene, speaking time of speakers will be limited to ten minutes and speaking time of other participants to two minutes per contribution or question. Speakers wishing to supplement their speeches may do so in writing by submitting a document (preferably in English or French) in advance to the secretariat ( libe-secretariat@europarl.europa.eu). These documents will be circulated during the meeting. Meeting documents will be progressively added to the Events section of the LIBE Committee pages: and to the WebNP event webpage: THE MEETING IS BROADCASTED LIVE AND RECORDED LIBE Committee pages: ADDITIONAL INFORMATION Danai PAPADOPOULOU Elitsa ANDREEVA Administrator Assistant Office: SQM 08 Y 046 Office: SQM 08 Y 051 Phone: +32(0) Phone: +32(0) danai.papadopoulou@europarl.europa.eu elitsa.andreeva@europarl.europa.eu Claudine JACOB Pauline PLEITINX Administrator Assistant Office: SQM 08 Y 044 Office: SQM 08 Y 048 Phone: +32(0) Phone: +32(0) Claudine.jacob@europarl.europa.eu pauline.pleitinx@europarl.europa.eu 1 The processing of personal data is subject to Regulation (EC) No 45/2001of 18 December 2001 (OJ.L , p. 1 5/5