Oostenrijks voorzitterschap buigt zich over uitbreiding taken voor Europol en Eurojust (en)

"Judicial monitoring of police powers is necessary and important for the balance of the rule of law."

Under the planned European security architecture, the role of Europol is to be expanded towards that of a European investigative authority with police powers. This obviously raises the question of appropriate monitoring of the exercise of these powers, such as rests with the courts in the national systems.

At the European level, therefore, similar checks and balances must be established (conduct of certain investigations only at the request of the Office of the Public Prosecutor and after approval by the court). One possibility here is a gradual expansion of the role of EUROJUST.

In a first stage, however, progress towards this objective could be made if Europol were to make increased use of the instrument of joint investigative groups, because in the context of such groups the involvement of, and control by, the national courts, before whom the proceedings must ultimately be conducted, would be secured. Such joint investigative groups could only be established, for example, in Austria through an application of the Office of the Public Prosecutor and under the direction of the investigative magistrate (Section 61(2) of the EU-JZG).

"On the other hand, I am still not convinced by the idea of establishing a European Public Prosecutor's Office - as was also proposed in the European Constitution. In view of the differences in the national procedural rules, which have once again become clear today in the debates in the informal meeting of Justice and Home Affairs Ministers, we should concentrate in the first place on the expansion of existing institutions before new ones are created with unclear remits. As long as criminal proceedings have to be conducted exclusively before the national courts, I regard such supranational prosecuting authorities as a mistake", says Austrian minister of Justice, Karin Gastinger.

Gastinger continues: "Finally, the expansion of Europol must also be balanced at the level of basic rights; the protection of the individual in criminal proceedings, whether the defendant or the victim, cannot be neglected or pushed into the background through legal actions of mutual recognition. In this context, appropriate procedural guarantees (right of hearing, right of defence, right of translation, etc.) must be established, which citizens must be able to enjoy in any "European" criminal proceedings involving a legal system with which they are not familiar".