Malta won’t back new EU corruption prosecutor

The agency will be charged with investigating and prosecuting corruption and fraud involving EU funds.

A new European public prosecutor’s office with powers to combat corruption and fraud involving EU funds is closer to becoming reality, even though some countries — including Malta, which currently holds the presidency of the EU Council — won’t sign up to it.

The Council decided Tuesday to allow countries to move forward with the creation of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office, despite the lack of unanimous support.

If it gets the approval of at least nine governments and the European Parliament, the agency will be able to investigate and prosecute corruption and fraud involving EU funds in those countries, as well as serious cases of cross-border VAT fraud that cost the bloc at least €50 billion a year.

“This is not unanimity, but other member states will be able to join at any time,” said Justice Commissioner Věra Jourová, who confirmed that 19 countries are set to “establish quickly” the new agency.

Sweden, the Netherlands, Hungary and Poland have all expressed concerns about losing sovereignty to a new EU body. In December, Hungary’s Justice Minister László Trócsányi described it as an example of “the furor of integration” and said it was “not necessary.”

In contrast, some countries such as Italy say the new prosecutor doesn’t have enough powers, arguing it should be able to investigate and prosecute a far greater array of crimes.

Malta won’t join because of its concerns about the prosecutor’s mandate, though a spokeswoman for the country’s justice ministry said Wednesday that Malta would, in its Council presidency role, “act as an honest broker” for other countries who do want to take the project forward.

Shadow justice minister Jason Azzopardi said the Maltese government’s decision was “no surprise at all,” given what he described as the government’s “vested interest not to fight corruption or money-laundering.”

He was referring to revelations last year that a minister close to Prime Minister Joseph Muscat as well as Muscat’s chief of staff had opened secret offshore entities in Panama and New Zealand in order, the opposition alleges, to take kickbacks from privatization deals. Both have denied any wrongdoing.

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