EUROPEAN PROUCRATORS
MIROSŁAW PIOTROWSKI
It will be possible to broaden Competences of European Procurators beyond financial area
European Procurators – is a new idea. In the intention of creators its main purpose is to scare. The task of the European Procurators will be control and also protection of EU budget, whereas it is supposed to be controlled by the European Parliament, Council and Commission. Its establishment was initiated by the European Commission last July, and the biggest supporters of this idea are Germany and France. Today Denmark and Great Britain oppose to it, and reservations are submitted by Ireland. According to the assumption, Procurators are to start functioning from next January. Every EU budget for seven years, which comprises all EU countries, including Poland, is nearly 1 billion Euro. It was estimated that so far, as a result of financial abuses, the Union loses about 500 million euro every year. So far, the abuses in the sphere of EU funds, OLAF, that is, European Office for Fighting Financial Abuses has been controlling and passed the results of its investigations to procurators of particular EU countries. However, many national issues were either dismissed or there were not court cases. Therefore, on the basis of art. 86 of the Lisbon Treaty, a decision was made about establishing a new body under the leadership of the European Prosecutor. He is supposed to lead international investigations and sue culprits to the court in every EU country. Poland is officially the biggest beneficiary of EU funds, and, according to the law of big numbers, there is the biggest probability of embezzlement here. Hence the European Procurator will be able to apply, for example, for setting wiretapping, confiscation of property, searching flats, etc. with omitting the Polish legal system. There are serious doubts whether this is compatible with the Polish constitution, especially that in the future it will be possible to broaden competences of the European Procurators beyond the financial area. It is possible that another step will be building transnational European prisons or additional control of EU culprits in membership countries. The Union still opts for deepening integration and building trustfulness of membership countries, but, as Józef Stalin stated, the supreme form of trustfulness is control.
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„Niedziela” 43/2014