(Luxembourg, 28 April 2025) - On 10 February 2025, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) filed an appeal (case number T-99/25) to the Court of Justice of the European Union, under Article 263, paragraph 4, TFEU, against the decision of the European Court of Auditors denying the request of the EPPO to allow a number of staff members of the Court of Auditors to testify in an ongoing criminal investigation. The summary of the appeal has been published today in the Official Journal.
At the end of 2022, based on a report from the European Anti-fraud Office (OLAF), the EPPO opened an investigation concerning individuals serving at the European Court of Auditors. The purpose of any EPPO investigation is to ascertain the accuracy of the reported facts, as well as their relevance as a criminal offence, by impartially gathering evidence for or against the person or persons under investigation. In order to be able to do that in this particular case, the EPPO has requested to the European Court of Auditors to authorise a number of staff members to be heard as witnesses.
On 9 December 2024, the European Court of Auditors denied this request. Previously, on more than one occasion, the EPPO had requested that the European Court of Auditors authorises a search of its electronic archives, and lifts the immunity of the persons under investigation to allow them to be questioned. Those requests were equally rejected.
This repeated lack of cooperation from the European Court of Auditors has prevented the EPPO from making any progress in its investigation, towards its goal of determining whether or not the allegations are founded and whether or not they should be prosecuted before the competent criminal court.
Under the applicable rule in the Staff Regulations for Officials of the European Union, the authorisation to be heard as witness is necessary, since they will be called to disclose information known to them by reason of their duties at the European Court of Auditors. However, while Union law provides EU institutions the power to withhold such authorisation, its purpose is not to give these institutions a say on the merits of the legal proceedings in which the staff members have to testify and can only be invoked in situations where the “interest of the Union” would be at risk. As clarified by the Court of Justice on numerous occasions, the “interest of the Union” in question “must necessarily be interests of considerable importance and vital to the Union”.
In the European Union, which is a system based on the rule of law, when a possible criminal offence affecting the Union budget is investigated, it is for the prosecutor – in this case, the EPPO – to gather relevant evidence in accordance with their powers under applicable criminal procedural law, to assess that evidence and decide whether or not the case should be prosecuted in court. Neither individuals under investigation, nor the institutions in which they serve, may interfere with the discharge of this duty.
For this reason, the EPPO has now turned to the Court of Justice asking it to review the legality of the European Court of Auditors’ decision preventing its staff to be heard as witnesses by the EPPO.
The EPPO is the independent public prosecution office of the European Union. It is responsible for investigating, prosecuting, and bringing to judgment crimes against the financial interests of the EU.