PROPOSAL FOR A COUNCIL REGULATION ON THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE EUROPEAN PUBLIC PROSECUTOR'S OFFICE

The article deals with the proposal for a Council regulation on the establishment of the European Public Prosecutor's Office (COM(2013) 534 final). The European Public Prosecutor's Office is to be set up as a new Union law enforcement authority responsible for prosecution of offences affecting the Union's financial interests. Particular attention was paid to the issue of the compatibility of the proposal with the principle of subsidiarity (Article 5 (3) TUE). The Treaty of Lisbon has made national parliaments of the Member State responsible for the observance of that principle. More than a dozen parliamentary chambers have submitted reasoned opinions through which they addressed their concerns about violation of that principle by the proposed regulation. Despite the strong reaction from the national parliaments the European Commission has decided to continue work on the proposal. From analysis of the arguments contained in the reasoned opinions submitted by the national parliaments on the proposed regulation about the European Public Prosecutor's Office it follows that the rules of the operation of the principle of subsidiarity, and the assessment criteria applied in this respect, are unclear. Most of the reasoned opinions from the national parliaments contains, apart from the allegations related strictly to the principle of subsidiarity, other objections of a legal or political nature, which do not concern that principle. The practice of national parliaments in this area is not uniform. Lack of uniformity may be one of the reasons why the Commission does not seem to hear the voice of the parliamentary chambers and is continuing the work on the proposal.