Did you not wonder why the first decision of Minister Adam Bodnar was to send a request to Prime Minister Donald Tusk for the urgent accession of Poland to the European Public Prosecutor's Office? Why is it so crucial that this happens before the European Council, which is presently under way, and what will have consequences for Poles? And above all: what is this European Public Prosecutor's Office, which only seems to be a non-controversial institution and what is to happen in the proposed changes to the EU Treaties?
Get to the point.
Apparently, everything seems beautiful and uncontroversial. The Treaty on the Functioning of the EU, on the basis of the mechanics of enhanced cooperation, provided for the creation of a European Public Prosecutor's Office "to combat crimes against the financial interests of the Union" (Article 86(1)). In accordance with paragraph 2, ‘the EP shall be competent to investigate, prosecute and bring before the courts, where appropriate in conjunction with Europol, perpetrators and accomplices of offences against the financial interests of the Union, the EP shall be competent to bring public prosecutions in respect of those offences before the competent courts of the associate States’.
A noble goal, an excellent idea. associate States shall agree that financial crime will be prosecuted with the assistance of investigators from a single Public Prosecutor's Office who are specialised in specified cases. specified a Public Prosecutor's Office was established by Council Regulation (EU) 2017/1939 of 12 October 2017. Currently, 22 countries joined the EP. The prosecution of financial crime at national level takes place in countries specified as Denmark, Ireland, Sweden, Hungary. And Poland. Here, the most crucial crime of this kind was entrusted to the Regional and Regional Prosecutors. As of June 1, 2021, the EP is headed by Romanian prosecutor Laura Codruţa Kövesi.
Supporters of the EP say that there is nothing controversial about this institution, it is about financial issues (e.g. extortion of grants), and it is besides European. They add, of course, that the Public Prosecutor's Office will deal with "the scams of the erstwhile power" etc. Unfortunately, that is not true. The full problem is not in the existence of the EP itself, but what it will become after the entry into force of the Treaty changes that force the biggest EU countries (mainly Germany) and which not only federalise the EU, but primarily centralize and deprive Poland of its sovereignty in many areas (defence, abroad policy and security).
The devil is in the details. The Treaty amendments proposed by Germany and France with the EP make an over-the-burden investigator with peculiar powers, whose competence will be far beyond the question of "financial offences". It turns out that the amended Treaty will enable the EP and the Council to "enhance the EP's powers to fight serious crime" (Article 86(4)). This concept is highly vague and gives area for different interpretations of what is and is not “serious crime”. However, the authors of the treaty changes give us a certain answer to what the EP will become. The "EU crime" is to be added "gender and environmental violence". The analysis shows that, among another things, "verbal violence" will be prosecuted (e.g. LGBTQ criticism referred to as hatred speed), "economic violence", as well as "against the environment" (crime against climate?) The second is peculiarly vague. Is this about smoking in the fireplace? utilizing a gas stove? Driving an old car that emits besides much exhaust? This can happen, and it's no longer fun... We know for certain that bringing to European level the prosecution of certain crimes importantly limits the anticipation for Poles to take a sovereign decision through their representatives what is and what is not punished in Poland.
Dr. Bartosz Lewandowski – Rector of Collegium Intermarium
