The EPPO’s legislative framework: Navigating through EU law, national law and soft law

Abstract

The legal framework under which the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) is called to operate is particularly complex, given the need for this body to exercise its functions in the legal systems of the Member States, applying both Union and national law. While this may justify the many references to national law contained in the EPPO’s founding Regulation (2017/1939), several among these references present relevant interpretative issues, and may in some cases even have a misleading effect. The article aims at showing examples of these different scenarios. It also touches briefly on the relevance of soft law in the legal framework of the EPPO.