Slovak presidency' major progress on European Public Prosecutor

Brussels (8 December) - The creation of a European public prosecutor and the protection of the EU financial's interest, the so-called PIF directive, were among key topics discussed by the Justice Council (JHA). The meeting was chaired by Slovak Justice Minister Lucia Žitňanská.

European public prosecutor - EPPO

Justice ministers discussed extensively the EPPO regulation. The overall majority of ministers reaffirmed their commitment to establish the public prosecutor and, pending some final technical work, supported the text as it now stands. However, the presidency took note of the different positions of delegations and concluded that these give a clear indication on the likely procedural way forward to ensure a positive conclusion on this file.

Lucia Žitňanská, Minister for Justice of Slovakia and President of the Council said: “I am glad to see the commitment of the Council to establish a European public prosecutor's office. If we want to ensure that EU taxpayers money is well protected, including in cross border cases, we need a European prosecutor. I am confident that a positive conclusion is within reach in the next few months.”

The European Public Prosecutor's Office regulation aims at helping combat crimes against the EU's financial interests.

Protection of the EU financial's interest - 'PIF'

The Council reached an agreement on the directive on the protection of the financial interest of the EU, paving the way for a formal adoption of the text in the coming weeks.

The objective of the so-called PIF directive is to deter fraudsters, improve the prosecution and sanctioning of crimes against the EU budget, and facilitate the recovery of misused EU funds, thereby increasing the protection of EU taxpayers' money.

Digital single market

Ministers provided guidance for further technical work on the directive regarding certain contractual aspects concerning the supply of digital content. In particular, they discussed the applicable rules to 'embedded digital content' (e.g. software included in so called smart fridges), on the definition and applicable rules for data other than personal data, and on the right balance in the legislation between subjective conformity criteria (i.e. criteria agreed in the contract) and objective conformity criteria (i.e. criteria stipulated in the law).