Giscard seeks Europe-wide prosecutor to fight crime

Plans for a European public prosecutor to tackle cross- border crime were unveiled yesterday, provoking a fresh clash between the architects of a draft EU constitution and the British Government.

The new prosecutor would investigate serious crimes committed across EU borders as well as cases of fraud against the European taxpayer, pursuing them in the courts of the member states. But the proposal, part of a package put forward by the French former president Valery Giscard d'Estaing, was rejected by the UK.

The latest blueprint from M. Giscard, who is chairing a convention on the future of Europe, called for a series of measures including common immigration and asylum policies and improved co-operation on border controls.

In addition, his draft constitution would scrap the special status given to justice and home affairs, which allows national governments greater control than over many other EU policies.

Although Britain praised many parts of the plan, including its call for countries to accept and enforce each other's legal judgments, it rejected the idea of an EU prosecutor. It also said Britain's right to police its borders would have to be written into the text.

A British official argued: "The job of pursuing cases through British courts is one that has to remain within, and accountable to, the British system. We will not support the idea of a European public prosecutor as proposed."

Labour MEPs disagreed, claiming cigarette smuggling alone had cost the EU taxpayer an estimated €90bn (£61bn) in lost duties. The prosecutor idea "deserves serious attention", said Eluned Morgan, a Labour member of the European Parliament's budget control committee.

M. Giscard's 105-strong convention has been asked to produce a text to be submitted to EU heads of government, who want to reform decision-making before the Union's expansion in May next year.

But relations between the French former president and the Government in London have become increasingly strained. British officials now argue the convention will only produce "options", and that national leaders will make the important decisions.

The British Government representative and Welsh Secretary, Peter Hain, made an outspoken attack on the content of the first 16 draft articles when they were published.

Last week, Gisela Stuart, the Labour MP who sits on the team advising M. Giscard, said his plans could make the EU more bureaucratic, less accountable and more remote from the voters. M. Giscard said last week that he did not "want to put British pro-Europeans in an untenable position".

But the dispute with London is threatening to come to a head over the issue of how long the convention will have to complete its work. M. Giscard is anxious to win more time to enable him to prepare the most credible draft constitution.

Yesterday, he said his work was unlikely to be presented at a summit in Thessaloniki in June, and suggested a new meeting might be convened to consider it. He also raised the possibility that the timetable could be extended to the beginning of September.