17:00 27 May 2021
EPPO to be launched at beginning of June, but Poland will not be its member
The European Commission officially confirmed yesterday that the European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO) will start operating on June 1.
The European Public Prosecutor's Office is to be responsible for investigating and prosecuting offenses against the EU budget.
22 EU Member States will be members of the EPPO. Poland, as well as Hungary and Sweden, decided in 2018 not to join the initiative of the European Public Prosecutor's Office. Additionally, Denmark and Ireland have an opt-out excluding them from cooperation in the fields of justice and security in the EU.
EPPO will be able to investigate countries that have not joined the initiative but will have to do so in cooperation with national prosecutors. So if, for example, the European Public Prosecutor's Office wants to arrest a suspect in Poland, such an order will have to be confirmed by the National Public Prosecutor's Office.
