§ Lord Stoddart of Swindonasked Her Majesty's Government:
What is their response to the adoption by the European Parliament on 13 April of a resolution supporting corpus juris and demanding the appointment of a European public prosecutor with wide powers over criminal law in member states and having control over Europol. [HL2074]
§ The Minister of State, Home Office (Lord Williams of Mostyn)The Government note that, although the European Parliament welcomedcorpus juris as a possible example for future developments, it said that it was not seeking the creation of a European Penal Code. The Government fully share the objective of fighting fraud against the Community budget, but disagree with many of the recommendations of the Corpus Juris study, including the proposal to establish a European public prosecutor. The Government also reject the idea that the European public prosecutor should be given control over Europol. Corpus Juris has not been submitted to the Council of Ministers, but if this were to happen, unanimous agreement would be needed for its proposals to be adopted and come into effect.