Friday

29th Mar 2024

Reform proposal to limit powers of EU anti-fraud staff

  • Olaf investigators will need special permission to probe a commissioner's office under new rules (Photo: kukkurovaca)

The EU’s anti-fraud office Olaf will have to ask permission to enter the offices of elected and appointed members of the EU institutions under proposals by the European Commission.

“For all the other staff, Olaf will continue to work as it has up to now,” European Commission spokesperson Emer Traynor told this website on Wednesday (18 June).

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Get the EU news that really matters

Instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

The proposal tabled earlier this month by the Brussels executive aims to set up a new post to make sure Olaf investigators follow procedural rules.

The commission wants to create a so-called Controller of Procedural Guarantees.

Olaf investigators will first have to ask the Controller's permission before entering the office of a European Commissioner, an MEP, or a minister at the EU Council.

Everyone else, including staff and personnel, are not protected under the additional safeguard.

“The reason we have included that was to basically align more the Olaf practices with what is normal practice at national level when there are criminal investigations,” said Traynor.

Traynor describes the controller as a “quasi-judicial clearance of particular investigative measures that Olaf wants to employ when it comes to people who hold office.”

Olaf will have no recourse or appeal should it disagree with the controller when it comes to accessing an office in case it suspects fraud or corruption.

Investigators who want access to someone’s office, under current rules, only need permission from Olaf’s director general.

To get into an MEPs office, they need prior permission from the parliament's president, according to the EP and despite Olaf objections. The anti-fraud office says it has the right of immediate and unannounced access to any relevant information, including information in databases, held by the institutions, bodies, offices and agencies, and to their premises.

Meanwhile, Olaf last year adopted new guidelines for all staff when they conduct investigations. They also set up a special unit tasked to check whether investigators have complied with the rules.

The commission's proposal is the last remaining part of a broader overhaul of the office initiated eight years ago.

Indications suggest some MEPs are already sceptical of the commission’s latest idea.

Last week, German centre-right deputy Ingeborg Graessle said the reform needs substantial revision because it risks stripping Olaf of its independence.

“This would be the end of Olaf as an independent body,” she said.

Green MEP Bart Staes, who along with Graessle has clashed with Olaf in the past, says he is not against the idea of the Controller but it needs “a lot of fine tuning and better guarantees for his independence.”

The commission, for its part, says the controller and accompanying staff would be subject to its staff regulations and rules of professional ethics.

“There is no more risk here than there is of a national judge being compromised,” said Traynor.

She noted Olaf is already receptive to the idea in part because it will provide greater legal clarity should the suspect being probed object.

The new post will also allow people under investigation to file complaints against Olaf and its director-general.

Most of the 25 complaints against the office between 2011 and 2013 were filed with the EU ombudsman.

The person to head the post would be appointed through an inter-institutional procedure involving the commission, parliament, and member states.

The position is part-time with a non-renewable five-year mandate.

Magazine

Fraudsters lured by EU structural funds

It's the job of the European Anti-Fraud Office to investigate any corruption and embezzlement of EU-funded projects. But why are structural funds in particular so attractive to criminals?

EU Parliament set to sue EU Commission over Hungary funds

The European Parliament will likely take the European Commission to court for unblocking more than €10bn in funds for Hungary last December. A final nod of approval is still needed by European Parliament president, Roberta Metsola.

EU Commission clears Poland's access to up to €137bn EU funds

The European Commission has legally paved the way for Poland to access up to €137bn EU funds, following Donald Tusk's government's efforts to strengthen the independence of their judiciary and restore the rule of law in the country.

Opinion

Potential legal avenues to prosecute Navalny's killers

The UN could launch an independent international investigation into Navalny's killing, akin to investigation I conducted on Jamal Khashoggi's assassination, or on Navalny's Novichok poisoning, in my role as special rapporteur on extrajudicial executions, writes the secretary-general of Amnesty International.

Opinion

I'll be honest — Moldova's judicial system isn't fit for EU

To state a plain truth: at present, Moldova does not have a justice system worthy of a EU member state; it is riven with corruption and lax and inconsistent standards, despite previous attempts at reform, writes Moldova's former justice minister.

Latest News

  1. Kenyan traders react angrily to proposed EU clothes ban
  2. Lawyer suing Frontex takes aim at 'antagonistic' judges
  3. Orban's Fidesz faces low-polling jitters ahead of EU election
  4. German bank freezes account of Jewish peace group
  5. EU Modernisation Fund: an open door for fossil gas in Romania
  6. 'Swiftly dial back' interest rates, ECB told
  7. Moscow's terror attack, security and Gaza
  8. Why UK-EU defence and security deal may be difficult

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersJoin the Nordic Food Systems Takeover at COP28
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersHow women and men are affected differently by climate policy
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersArtist Jessie Kleemann at Nordic pavilion during UN climate summit COP28
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCOP28: Gathering Nordic and global experts to put food and health on the agenda
  5. Friedrich Naumann FoundationPoems of Liberty – Call for Submission “Human Rights in Inhume War”: 250€ honorary fee for selected poems
  6. World BankWorld Bank report: How to create a future where the rewards of technology benefit all levels of society?

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsThis autumn Europalia arts festival is all about GEORGIA!
  2. UNOPSFostering health system resilience in fragile and conflict-affected countries
  3. European Citizen's InitiativeThe European Commission launches the ‘ImagineEU’ competition for secondary school students in the EU.
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersThe Nordic Region is stepping up its efforts to reduce food waste
  5. UNOPSUNOPS begins works under EU-funded project to repair schools in Ukraine
  6. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsGeorgia effectively prevents sanctions evasion against Russia – confirm EU, UK, USA

Join EUobserver

EU news that matters

Join us