Toward a Prosecutor for the European Union Volume 1: A Comparative Analysis

In an era in which the EU's influence in criminal law matters has expanded rapidly, attention has recently turned to the possible creation of a European Public Prosecutor's Office. This two volume work presents the results of a study carried out by a group of European criminal law experts in 2010-2012, with the financial support of the EU Commission, whose aims were to examine in detail current public prosecution systems in the Member States and to scrutinise proposals for a new European office. Volume 1 begins with thorough descriptions of 20 different national legal systems of investigation and prosecution, addressing a range of evidential and procedural safeguards. These will serve as a point of reference for all future research on public prosecutors. Volume 1 also contains a series of cross-cutting studies of the key issues that will inform debates about the creation of a European Public Prosecutor's Office, including studies of vertical cooperation in administrative investigations in subsidy and competition cases, the accession of the EU to the ECHR, judicial control in cooperation in criminal matters, mutual recognition and decentralised enforcement of European competition law. Volume 2 (which will be published in 2013) presents a draft set of model rules for the procedure of the European Public Prosecutor's Office and continues with a set of comparative studies of the national legal systems that cover the gathering of evidence, seizure of assets, arrests, tracking and tracing, prosecution measures, procedural safeguards, the presumption of innocence and the right to silence, access to the file and victim reconciliation. Volume 2 concludes with the final report, written by Professor Ligeti, summarising the findings of the group and reporting on the prospects for the proposed reform.

I. Introduction Katalin Ligeti Part I Presentation of national systems of investigation, prosecution, evidence and procedural safeguards 1. The Austrian system Robert Kert / Andrea Lehner 2. The Belgian system Marie-Aude Beernaert 3. The Danish system Birgit Feldtmann / Sebastian Knop 4. The Dutch system Idlir Peci 5. The English and Welsh system Tricia Howse 6. The Estonian system Jaan Ginter 7. The Finnish system Teemu Kastula 8. The French system Aurelie Binet-Grosclaude 9. The German system Bernd Hecker 10. The Hungarian system Miklos Hollan 11. The Irish system Andrea Ryan 12. The Italian system Francesca Ruggieri / Stefano Marcolini 13. The Latvian system Kristine Strada-Rozenberga 14. The Lithuanian system / Remigijus Merkevieius Gintaras Svedas 15. The Luxembourgish system Marc Schiltz 16. The Maltese system Stefano Filletti 17. The Polish system Celina Nowak / S(3)awomir Steinborn 18. The Portuguese system Pedro Caeiro / Miguel Joao Costa 19. The Romanian system Claudiu Dumitrescu / Augustin Lazar / Anca Augusta Lazar / Angela Nicolae 20. The Scottish system Lorna Harris 21. The Slovak system Anna Ondrejova 22. The Slovenian system Primoz Gorkie 23. The Spanish system Lorena Bachmaier 24. The Swedish system Christoffer Wong Part II Issues of interest for the creation of a European Public Prosecutor's Office i. Federal Criminal Law and the European Public Prosecutor's Office Marta Munoz de Morales / Adan Nieto Martin / Marianne Wade ii. The system of vertical cooperation in administrative investigations in EU subsidy cases Justyna GBPacny / Lech Paprzycki / Eleonora Zielinska iii. The system of vertical and horizontal cooperation in administrative investigations in EU competition cases Martin Boese iv. The material scope of the European Public Prosecutor's Office Rosaria Sicurella v. The interaction between the ECJ and the ECTHR with respect to the protection of procedural safeguards: the accession of the EU to the ECHR. Silvia Allegrezza vi. Judicial control in cooperation in criminal matters. The evolution from judicial cooperation to mutual recognition Anne Weyembergh, Zlata Durdevic vii. Report on the protection of personal data in the framework of police and judicial cooperation in criminal matters.Stefan Braum / Valentina Covolo viii. Mutual Recognition in the European Law of Civil Procedure Burkhard Hess ix. Decentralised enforcement of European Competition Law: powers, procedures and legal protection Heleen Koggink / Saskia Lavrijssen / Thomas Nauta