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| A weekly newsletter zooming in on Europe through local perspectives. Every Friday, one topic explored by five independent newsrooms. | | IN THIS ISSUE | §01 · In focus — European prosecutors: From footnote to top-level political showdown
§02 · The local view — Berlin, Riga, Warsaw, Vienna and Zagreb
§03 · The podcast — Listen to the latest episode and join the conversation
§04 · From the newsrooms — Recent reporting from the lensEU network |
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| §01 · IN FOCUS | Meet the people who protect your money | There is a good chance that you have not heard of Andrés Ritter, unless—perhaps—you are from Germany. Yet we entrusted him and his colleagues with protecting our money from fraudsters, corrupt officials, and even international criminals. Ritter, a German prosecutor with 25 years of distinguished service, will formally take the helm of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) this November. | The EPPO is a relatively new European institution, launched by a core group of 16 EU countries and now comprising 24 participating member states. European prosecutors are tasked with investigating and prosecuting crimes against the EU’s financial interests—essentially, going after those trying to siphon off taxpayers' money. | Under the leadership of Laura Kövesi, the EPPO's first Chief Prosecutor, the office has investigated ministers, former lawmakers, local officials, civil servants, entrepreneurs, and organized crime networks. Ritter is set to succeed her. | In some countries, as our colleagues from Latvia point out, the EPPO usually doesn't make the headlines. In others, however, it has become almost a household name thanks to high-profile and sometimes politically sensitive cases. In Croatia, for instance, European prosecutors have launched several major investigations, which you can hear more about in this week’s episode of the LensEU podcast. | In fact, one of these investigations has triggered a legal battle before the European Court of Justice. The Court is currently deciding whether Croatia’s law implementing the EPPO Regulation complies with EU law. The core question is this: when a conflict of competence arises between European and national prosecutors, can a national prosecutor decide who leads the investigation, as Croatian law currently provides? | While this may seem like a local matter, the case indirectly impacts 14 other member states which, according to the Croatian Ministry of Justice, have resolved the conflict of competence question in much the same way as Croatia. | At the same time, the European Commission is reviewing the EPPO Regulation. Will the outcome of this case be taken into account in that process? | "The work on the evaluation of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) is ongoing. We cannot pre-empt its contents at this stage. The evaluation takes into account all developments that are relevant to the implementation of the EPPO Regulation, including the effectiveness and efficiency of the EPPO and its working practices, ensuring a thorough and evidence-based review", a Commission spokesperson told Telegram in May. | But in the end, much of it comes down to money. At the beginning of her mandate, Laura Kövesi offered a vivid and powerful argument for why the EPPO is worth public funding: for every euro invested, you get five back, she said, pointing to the ratio between the office's annual budget and the value of assets it had seized. The EPPO's budget for 2025 stood at €85.9 million, nearly 70 percent higher than in 2022. | So, what does the future hold for the EPPO? There is little doubt one of the EU’s youngest institutions will survive and even expand (following the recent change of government in Budapest, Hungary is also planning to join). The real question, however, is whether the EU has the political will not merely to preserve the EPPO—that is the easy part—but to make it more efficient and more powerful. With the forthcoming revision of the legislation and ongoing negotiations over the EU's long-term budget, 2026 should give us at least part of the answer. | Irena Frlan Gašparović, Journalist, Telegram.hr |
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| | | Berlin · Germany · CORRECTIV | When Crime Crosses Borders, Justice Needs European Answers | The European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) is important for Germany because it investigates cross-border fraud, corruption, and VAT carousel schemes that harm the EU budget and, ultimately, taxpayers. The European Commission estimates Germany’s VAT gap for 2023 at approximately €31.3 billion, representing 9.7% of the country’s total VAT liability. More recent figures are not yet publicly available. | In previous years, German investigators often struggled to prosecute criminal networks operating across borders successfully. The creation of the EPPO has significantly changed this situation. Prosecutors can now take action against organised groups, such as those targeted in March, which allegedly defrauded the state through cross-border trading in luxury vehicles designed to evade VAT. These new powers enable investigators to disrupt criminal schemes for which the German legal system previously offered no effective remedy. | Through close cooperation with their European counterparts, German prosecutors now have the tools to tackle these networks more effectively. A recent example is the luxury car raids in Berlin. When investigators require an urgent search warrant, they can turn to colleagues in Italy. There, prosecutors can authorise a warrant directly, whereas in Germany a judge must approve a search. | At first glance, this may appear to limit the rights of suspects. In practice, however, it allows investigations to proceed much more quickly . | Martin Murphy, Senior Editor, CORRECTIV |
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| | Riga · Latvia · TVNET | EPPO in Latvia: A Quiet Watchdog Steps into the Spotlight | The European Public Prosecutor’s Office began operating in Latvia in 2021, alongside the other participating EU countries. By the end of 2025, the EPPO had 55 active cases in Latvia, with estimated damages totaling around €270 million. For a long time, however, the acronym rarely appeared in local news. | That has changed over the past three months. In the spring of 2026, as part of criminal proceedings initiated by the EPPO, Latvian police detained 21 people suspected of procurement fraud in state IT contracts worth €1.5 million. Several public officials were among those detained. | According to investigators, a group of individuals entered into an unlawful agreement to predetermine the winners of public procurement contracts in at least six projects financed by the European Regional Development Fund. The illegal proceeds were then distributed among the perpetrators. | The alleged scheme also posed a risk to democratic processes, as one of the companies implicated in the scandal had worked on a ballot-scanning system — a particularly sensitive issue in light of the upcoming parliamentary elections. | The work of the EPPO and the Latvian police has produced tangible results: several signed contracts have been cancelled. And against the backdrop of the economic challenges facing my country, the EPPO’s work can only be welcomed — even if it rarely makes the headlines. | Andrejs Timofejevs, TVNET GRUPA, Latvia |
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| | Warsaw · Poland · OKO.press | Poland: EPPO as a Sign of Restoring Rule of Law | Poland is a relative newcomer to the European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO). Participation in the EPPO is voluntary, and the previous Law and Justice government refused to join when the institution was established, arguing against further European integration. | Following the change of government in 2023, joining the EPPO became one of the first priorities of the new Ministry of Justice. The move sent an important political signal that Poland was committed to restoring the rule of law. It also coincided with the gradual unfreezing of more than €70 billion in EU cohesion funds and €59.8 billion from the COVID-19 Recovery Fund, which had been blocked because of rule-of-law concerns. The EU also closed the Article 7 procedure against Poland. | Although Poland formally joined the EPPO on 1 June 2024, the office began operating in the country only in January 2025. Four offices, located in Warsaw, Katowice, Gdańsk and Lublin, currently employ fourteen European Delegated Prosecutors. | The EPPO is already investigating more than ninety cases, including alleged fraud involving environmental subsidies, public procurement and customs duties. As Poland receives increasing amounts of EU funding, the significance of the EPPO is likely to grow. | Anna Wójcik, OKO.press |
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| | Vienna · Austria · Die Presse | How Widespread Is Fraud in Austria? | Last year's report from the European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO) offers a snapshot of fraud cases in Austria. The prosecutors — Austria is represented at EPPO's Luxebourg headquatores by european prosecutor Ursula Schumdermayer — handled a total of 43 active cases during the previous year, with estimated damages amounting to just under €2 billion. | In 2025, 17 new investigations were opened, the vast majority of them initiated by Austrian authorities. The bulk of cases — as in most other participating member states — involve VAT fraud. In these so-called carousel schemes, companies across several EU countries create fictitious supply chains to simulate cross-border trade, thereby fraudulently claiming input tax deductions. | In Austria, VAT carousels and customs fraud account for the overwhelming share of damages. According to the EPPO, these offences caused losses amounting to €1.93 billion. | Michael Laczynski, EU editor, Die Presse |
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| | Zagreb · Croatia · Telegram.hr | EPPO, Croatia: The Last Hope | In the eyes of the Croatian public, the EPPO is not just a passing footnote, as it is in the vast majority of EU countries—another more or less exotic body dealing with tax fraud. In Croatia, however, the EPPO is often seen as a last hope. | Endemic corruption in the highest levels of Croatian politics has been accompanied by the subjugation of independent democratic institutions. As a result, the ability of domestic investigators to pursue sensitive cases is severely limited. | For example, in 2019, the news portal Telegram revealed that Gabrijela Žalac, then the minister responsible for EU funds, had grossly overpaid for software for her ministry. The State Attorney's Office opened an investigation and concluded: Nothing to see here. | Two years later, however, the EPPO began operating in Croatia. Within months, the European prosecutors had opened their own investigation, had the former minister arrested, and today Žalac is serving a prison sentence. | Prime Minister Andrej Plenković became visibly irritated by the EPPO's work when the institution began investigating the post-earthquake reconstruction program overseen by the Ministry of Culture and Media. He argued that the EPPO lacked jurisdiction because the case did not involve EU funds, and he strongly defended his minister. The investigation nevertheless continued, and the minister's former top aide was later named as a suspect. | Things boiled over with the case of Health Minister Vili Beroš. He is suspected of working with associates linked to organized crime to sell medical devices to Croatian hospitals at inflated prices. The EPPO had completed its investigation and was preparing to make arrests. However, the Croatian State Attorney's Office then intervened, arrested Beroš, and took over the case from the European prosecutors. This triggered a jurisdictional dispute currently before the European Court of Justice. Meanwhile, European Chief Prosecutor Laura Kövesi reported Croatia to the European Commission over violations of the rule of law. | These three high-profile cases alone are telling. It is almost certain that they would never have existed without the involvement of European investigators. That is precisely why the EPPO is such a nuisance to those in power. | Jasmin Klarić, Telegram.hr |
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| §03 · THE PODCAST | The European Public Prosecutor's Office: Reshaping the Fight Against Corruption Across the EU | This week's episode of the LENS EU podcast explores the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO). How is it reshaping the fight against corruption and fraud across the European Union? And, what does it means to have a supranational prosecution body operating within EU member states? | To better understand how EPPO works across different national contexts, we speak to colleagues from Poland, a newcomer to EPPO, and Latvia, where the office has already conducted major investigations and arrests. | At the heart of the discussion is Croatia, where EPPO’s activities have sparked one of the most significant institutional conflicts in recent years: a legal battle between Croatian and European prosecutors over the case of a former Croatian Health Minister. | |
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| In case you missed the episode you can listen to it here. | What was last week’s episode about? | Droughts are becoming one of Europe’s most pressing climate challenges. From forest fires and shrinking harvests to water shortages and rising food prices, prolonged dry periods are affecting communities across the continent. As extreme weather events become more frequent, the question is no longer whether Europe will face more droughts, but whether it is prepared for their social, economic and environmental consequences. |
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