Prime Minister Robert Fico’s push dissolve the body that now oversees high-profile corruption cases poses a risk to the EU’s financial interests and would harm the work of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office, Juraj Novocký, Slovakia’s representative to the EU body, told Euractiv Slovakia.
Fico’s government wants to pass a reform that would eliminate the Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office, reduce penalties, including those for corruption, and curtail the rights of whistleblowers.
Novocký points out that the reform would also bring a radical shortening of limitation periods: “Through a thorough analysis, we have found that if the amendment is adopted as proposed, we will have to stop prosecution in at least twenty cases for this reason,” Novocký of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) told Euractiv Slovakia.
“This has a concrete effect on the EPPO’s activities and indirectly on the protection of the financial interests of the EU because, in such cases, there will be no compensation for the damage caused,” Novocký added.
On Monday, EU Chief Prosecutor Laura Kövesi addressed the government’s push for reform in a letter to the European Commission, concluding that it constitutes a serious risk of breaching the rule of law in the meaning of Article 4(2)(c) of the Conditionality Regulation.
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Source: Fico’s corruption reforms may block investigations in 20 EU fraud cases – EURACTIV.com
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