This article outlines the new Directive on the violation of Union restrictive measures (EU sanctions), adopted on 24 April 2024. This legislation, initiated by the European Commission in the aftermath of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, above all aims to harmonise across the Member States criminal offences and penalties for the violation of EU sanctions, to strengthen the enforcement of EU sanctions, and to facilitate the confiscation of assets subject to EU sanctions. Lastly, the article examines the possible extension of the competence of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) to the criminal offences harmonised by the new Directive.

The European Public Prosecutor’s Office, being the largest project in the history of European Criminal Law, is based on Council Regulation (EU) 2017/1939 (“the EPPO Regulation”) but has nevertheless required substantial adjustments to national criminal law in order to function. This article presents the results of a compliance study commissioned by the European Commission to assess whether the national legislation of the 22 Member States participating in the EPPO is in conformity with the EPPO Regulation.

This article examines the exercise by the Court of Justice of the European Union of its judicial review jurisdiction with respect to the European Public Prosecutor's Office. It describes the Court of Justice’s activities in the framework of the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice, of which the European Public Prosecutor’s Office is a key element, before examining the Court’s jurisdiction to review the legality of measures taken by the European Public Prosecutor's Office and a number of cases in that context.

The current EU anticorruption legal framework already includes specific measures targeting acts of corruption that damage or are likely to damage the Union’s financial interests. Directive (EU) 2017/1371 on the fight against fraud to the Union’s financial interests by means of criminal law (“PIF Directive”) sets out common definitions and standards for the criminal offences of active and passive corruption (bribery) and misappropriation by a public official (in addition to fraud and money laundering). Indeed, bribery constitutes a particularly serious threat to the EU budget and can in many instances also be linked to fraudulent conduct, e.g. in cases of bribery of public officials in exchange for awarding EU funds or for approving inflated costs in the execution of certain projects.