January 26 (SeeNews) - Preparatory work for establishing a European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO) is expected to be completed within the Bulgarian presidency of the Council of the European Union, Estonia's justice minister Urmas Reinsalu said on Friday.
Bulgaria took over the rotating presidency of the Council from Estonia on January 1 and will hold it until June 30.
"I'm sure all the preparatory work, which is a huge amount of work, will be solved under the Bulgarian presidency and very important is the cooperation level between the EPPO, Eurojust and OLAF," Urmas Reinsalu told journalists in Sofia before an informal meeting of justice and home affairs ministers of EU member states.
"I'm sure the right balance will be found and the platform for that is going to happen here, in Sofia," Reinsalu added.
In October 2017, the regulation establishing the EPPO was adopted by 20 member states which are part of the EPPO enhanced cooperation, including all four EU members from Southeast Europe - Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania and Slovenia. The EPPO will be in charge of investigating, prosecuting and bringing to justice the perpetrators of offences against the EU's financial interests.
The date on which the EPPO will assume its investigative and prosecutorial tasks will be set by the Commission on the basis of a proposal from the European Chief Prosecutor once the EPPO has been set up.
Following the meeting in Sofia, justice commissioner Vera Jourova said the European Chief Prosecutor is expected to be appointed in mid-2019 and will assume its investigative and prosecutorial tasks by end-2020.