EU prosecutors threaten to sue Commission in spending spat

Top European prosecutors — who are investigating allegations of criminal wrongdoing in connection with vaccine negotiations between Ursula von der Leyen and the CEO of Pfizer — are now threatening the European Commission with legal action.

On April 9, Laura Codruța Kövesi, who heads the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) — tasked with investigating serious financial crimes affecting the EU’s interests — took the unusual step of launching a so-called “amicable settlement procedure” with the Commission. This is the last legal step before litigation and if no agreement can be found, the fight could go as high as the EU’s General Court.

The prosecutors fear they will be unable to do their job properly if the Commission goes through with a plan to squeeze its budget — a move that was announced in February and came as a surprise, EPPO claims.

Kövesi’s letter was shared in early April with three senior officials from the Commission, according to the document obtained by POLITICO. In it, the EPPO chief alleges that the Commission is depriving it of the means to carry out its work effectively by putting pressure on its budget, notably on the amount spent on IT.

When EPPO was launched in summer 2021, the Commission agreed to provide IT facilities with no end date given. The Commission has now told EPPO it wants to withdraw the IT support. The amount of money involved is around €5 million, according to EPPO’s estimates.

“The unilateral decision … to terminate, on 31 December 2024, the provision of the mentioned services to the EPPO risks that the Union’s independent prosecution office will be in the impossibility to carry out its tasks and achieve its mission,” Kövesi wrote, adding that “it is incumbent on the Commission to abstain from any measure that could jeopardize the attainment of the Treaty objective entrusted to EPPO in combating crimes affecting the financial interests of the Union.”

There’s potentially more at stake than a cut to the IT budget. A relatively new institution, EPPO is also a very important one as its prosecutors are empowered to lead cross-border investigations on something regularly denounced by the member states and the Commission as one of the biggest threats to the EU: criminal organizations going after the EU’s money.

In 2023, the number of EPPO investigations soared, the office wrote in its annual report. More than 200 fraud investigations were opened last year related to the EU-wide Recovery and Resilience Facility, which provides EU cash to help boost post-Covid economic recovery and is worth more than €800 billion. In 2022, when the disbursement of the EU cash was in its early phases, just 15 probes were launched.

Investigators from EPPO took over from Belgian prosecutors investigating von der Leyen over “interference in public functions, destruction of SMS, corruption and conflict of interest,” according to legal documents seen by POLITICO and a spokesperson from the Liège prosecutor’s office. While EPPO’s prosecutors are investigating alleged criminal offenses, no one has yet been charged in connection with the case.

The Commission, which was legally bound to answer within 15 days of EPPO’s letter, did send a response.

“The Commission has replied to EPPO within the designated period for an amicable settlement,” a spokesperson said. “In its reply, the Commission has expressed willingness to continue to support the IT services of EPPO for the foreseeable future under specific conditions. We cannot comment further.”

The Commission denied any attempt to interfere in EPPO’s independence and said in a statement that it “has been steadily supporting the EPPO’s activities from the very beginning and strongly rebuts any insinuation that the Commission decision in the budgetary procedure has any link with any investigation of the EPPO.”

Top European prosecutors are investigating allegations of criminal wrongdoing in connection with vaccine negotiations between Ursula von der Leyen and the CEO of Pfizer. | Benoit Doppagne/Belga Mab via Getty Images

It is unusual for an EU institution to threaten to sue the Commission, but tension had been building.

Through an open letter sent to MEPs and public remarks at the European Parliament, Kövesi has for weeks been asking the Commission to reevaluate its decision to cut a substantial part of the support it provides to the Luxembourg-based EPPO team, who have recently taken over a case looking into von der Leyen’s handling of Covid vaccine deals.