Osnivanje Kancelarije evropskog javnog tužioca - rađanje novog uticajnog aktera u evropskom sistemu upravljanja na više nivoa?
Establishment of the European prosecutor's office: birth of a new powerful actor in european multi-level system of governance?

Summary/Abstract: After decades of planning and years of negotiations, the European Union countries have finally agreed to set up a European Public Prosecutor's Office employing enhanced cooperation. The new EU body shall be responsible for the investigation, prosecution and bringing to justice the perpetrators of offences against the Union's financial interests, that is, to protect the integrity of the European budget. The main assumption of the paper is that, while at first glance it may seem that the final agreement regarding the formation of a supranational prosecution authority has emerged in the form of a pale political compromise, the centralization of competences at the European level of decision-making is progressing. The aim of the paper is twofold. The starting point is to present the characteristics of the new actor based on the source of EU law. Thereafter, on a critical basis, the wider implications of setting up a European Prosecutor's Office are evaluated, in the first place, the expectations regarding the further expansion of its competences. Despite its potentially revolutionary powers (the direct effect of decisions on individuals in the sensitive subject matter of criminal law) are limited to a relatively narrow area that is largely cross-linked by the actions of other EU bodies and agencies, the emergence of a new supranational actor is analyzed in the political context of the revived integrative process after years of crisis. As the Lisbon Treaty has foreseen such a possibility, the paper concludes that it is reasonable to expect that, in the future, the competence of the European Prosecutor's Office will be extended to other forms of serious crime with a crossborder dimension.

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