THE EUROPEAN PUBLIC PROSECUTOR'S OFFICE: A MAJOR STEP TOWARDS POLITICAL INTEGRATION OR ANOTHER MIDDLE-GROUND EUROPEAN AGENCY IN THE NAME OF PRAGMATISM?

The establishment of the EPPO could be seen, at first sight, as a major step in the European integration process, and not without reason as it means the creation of a European agency to which powers of investigation and prosecution of criminal offences affecting the financial interests of the European Union (EU) are granted. However, after a long and difficult negotiating process, the resulting EPPO casts doubts on whether it is truly a major step towards political integration or simply another middle-ground European agency. To try to clarify it, the EPPO's legal basis, the negotiating process that led to the use of the enhanced cooperation procedure to approve it, the contents of the Regulation that creates it and its possible future developments will be analysed.