DISAGREEMENT OVER EUROPEAN PUBLIC PROSECUTOR TO COMBAT FRAUD.

European Union Finance Ministers gathered for a Council session on 18 July, failed to reach agreement on requesting that the Commission clarify its ideas on the appointment of a European prosecutor in the context of the "global strategy to protect the Community's financial interests" (see European Report No 2512 for further details). Germany, France, the Netherlands and Sweden have backed the proposal, but the United Kingdom, Denmark and Ireland are opposed. The Council therefore merely "took note of the proposals advanced" by the Commission in its Communication on legal affairs including the "proposal for a European Public Prosecutor". The Finance Council did, by contrast, welcome the other guidelines outlined by the Commission in its Communication.The Commission is now charged with bringing forward the necessary measures to finalise the provisions introduced in 1999 on the creation of the Union's anti-fraud...