Criminal proceedings in the EU framework (Corpus juris)

Adopting the own-initiative report by Jan Wiebenga (ELDR,NL) on criminal procedures in the EU, the European Parliament calls for the gradual establishment of a European criminal law system in which account is taken of Member States' legal traditions and, on the basis of the latter, methods are found of combating and preventing international organised crime. This European criminal law system should be based on gradual harmonisation of the approach to serious offences - sexual exploitation of children, trafficking of persons, drug trafficking, terrorism, corruption and fraud, money laundering -which could lead, in the medium or long term, to the appointment of an independent European Public Prosecutor. This European Public Prosecutor migh serve to centralise judicial information on transnational investigations under way, and might, at a later stage, be given responsibility for the opening of investigations and the bringing before the competent Member State courts of public criminal law proceedings involving offences covered by the European criminal law system. The Parliament calls on both the Council and the Commission to put in place a genuine legislative programme for the elaboration of the proposed system, making full use of the resources provided by the Amsterdam Treaty. The European Public Prosecutor could equally provide judicial control of the activities of Europol and of the future anti-fraud unit, UCLAF or OLAF. Elsewhere, the Parliament demands that the Council enable it to play its full role in drawing up the legislative programme for a European criminal law system. Finally, it calls on the applicant countries to give their full support to the reforms and to the process of bringing their legal systems and their administrations into line with those of the Community.�