Who Is the European Attorney General?
European Attorney General and Common Investigation Teams are the two proposals advanced by the Italian government to combat crime during its six-month presidency of the EU, as approved by the Anti-Mafia Committee of the Italian Parliament on June 17.
Where does the idea of a EU Attorney General come from and which powers will the office have?
The Office of the EU Attorney Genearl investigates financial crimes at a European level, in conjunction with Europol if needed, felonies that damage the Union's financial interests.
According to the Italian proposal, jurisdiction over crimes undermining the EU budgets should be exclusive. National authorities will be no longer competent in dealing with such crimes, whether they have a national nature or a transnational nature. In addition to fraud, bribery, and money laundering of EU funds, the new office would also deal with embezzlement and corruption in public contracts, for public works financed by the EU.
The new office will exert its powers without territorial limitations in the area of member states that will decide to be part of it (individual countries will have to ratify such a judicial tool). Thus the EU Attorney General will act over a single legal space, and thus won't ask for judicial assistance from national magistrates and won't require the mutual recognition of its decision.
The project is both important and ambitious: an attorney's office endowed with actual powers of investigation, rather than simply coordination, is a sine qua non to face down crime rings organized on a transnational scale. However if one looks at the European record of Italy on the issue, some skepticism arises.
For instance, the reference to "common investigation teams" finds its reference in a commitment taken by the EU in Tampere in 1999. It was followed by EU norms on judicial cooperation in criminal matters and by a decision of the European Council in June 2002, which member states should have implemented by January 2003.
The existing system of norms says that two or more member states can constitute joint investigation teams for crimes that require the coordinated and concerted action of member states. Such tool has become the standard practice of judiciary police in many EU countries.
The importance of having common teams is self-evident, since it enables the development of a joint investigation strategy with respect to the same criminal case, as well as fosters the exchange of information and expertise among magistrates and police forces, while eliminating costly overlaps and quickening the closing of cases. Also such investigative teams will be funded by the EU budget, and would not put an additional burden on the budgets of national justice and interior ministries.
Well, of the 28 countries that are currently members of the European Union, only two countries have not implemented joint investigation teams: Croatia and Italy.
To fight transnational crimes, states should be willing to renounce to some of their sovereignty over law and order, in favor of supranational judicial power. But, Italy by not implementing the EU legislation on joint investigation teams, has already shown it is unwilling to do so.