Terrorist attacks continue to hit Europe hard and constitute a serious security threat to Europeans. Recent attacks in France and Austria have shown once again that our European way of life and values are being targeted. Fighting terrorism is therefore a top priority. Extending the mandate of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) to cover cross-border terrorist crimes would give the EU a powerful tool to tackle the financing of terrorism. Although the Commission did give its active support to this initiative back in 2018(1), as did Parliament in its resolution of 21 March 2019 adopted by its Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs, the European Council has not taken any real action to endorse it. On 24 July 2020, the Commission reaffirmed in its communication on EU Security Union Strategy that ‘it remains an objective to extend the mandate of the EPPO to cross-border terrorist crimes’.

Since extending EPPO’s mandate requires a change to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, and the adoption of a European Council decision amending Article 86 thereof, and given the priority that the fight against terrorism must take:

Can the Commission clarify what specific actions it has taken, or plans to take in the short term, to extend EPPO’s mandate?