In 2017, the Council of the European Union adopted the Regulation implementing enhanced cooperation on the establishment of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office which became operational after a long preparatory phase in 2021. The Regulation announces the establishment of a first such European Union's body responsible for investigating, prosecuting and bringing to judgment the perpetrators of criminal offences affecting the financial interests of the Union. The body with a decentralized organizational structure, entrusting the main role to the European delegated prosecutors, relies to a considerable extent on the procedural criminal law of the member states, which raises doubts about the constitutionality of the body's operation in relation to the principle of legal clarity and legal predictability, especially regarding the position of an alleged perpetrator in the proceedings before the European Public Prosecutor's Office. The Regulation introduces the investigation led by a prosecutor in pre-trial proceedings. Although the Regulation does not intend to interfere with national legislation, the role of the investigating judge in the Slovenian criminal proceedings has been significantly changed, raising the question of interference with the constitutional principle of separation of powers and judicial independence.
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