The establishment of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) in 2017 was accompanied by strong resistance and deep disputes among the Member States, resulting in numerous compromises regarding the status of this body. Nevertheless, this marked a significant breakthrough in the history of European integration, as an autonomous supranational body was created, specialized in combating criminal offenses directed against the financial interests of the European Union, and a transition was achieved from horizontal cooperation in the field of criminal justice to vertical integration. The EPPO was established on the basis of enhanced cooperation among Member States (not all Member States participate in its work), which has left its institutional and operational reach limited. Taking into account the significant achievements in its work to date (the number of investigations and convictions, asset recovery), the EPPO faces numerous challenges arising from systemic shortcomings of the hybrid model and legal fragmentation. The aim of this paper is, through an analysis of the normative framework, academic and professional literature, and reports of EU bodies, to identify the most significant structural and functional barriers to the operation of the EPPO. The combination of factors (the normative framework, constitutional constraints, fragmentation of law, and the sovereignty of Member States in the field of criminal justice) that give rise to systemic barriers in the work of the EPPO may undermine the rule of law as one of the fundamental values of the European Union and trigger a domino effect of further erosion of the legal system. The author concludes that, despite the results achieved, the existing hybrid model of the EPPO will remain permanently unsustainable without substantial changes to the normative framework governing its operation, which today largely depends on political will.
Vladan Stanković (2026) studied this question.