The existence of institutional mechanisms to prevent and fight against corruption

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Status requiring significant improvement
Status requiring moderate improvement
Compliant status

The amendment to the criminal law system introduced by the Slovak government thought accelerated legislative procedure in December 2023 amends the criminal procedural law resulting the abolishment of the Special Prosecutor’s Office of the Slovak Republic.

The Special Prosecutor’s Office prosecuted persons suspected of committing crimes and falling under the jurisdiction of the Specialized Criminal Court, including the most serious corruption offences.

According to the letter by the European Chief Prosecutor addressed to the European Commission in December 2023, the proposed amendments constitute a serious risk of breaching the rule of law by:

  • minimizing detection of potential fraud affecting the financial interests of the EU;
  • disrupting functional reporting lines established between the European Public Prosecutor’s Office and the Special Prosecution Service;
  • cutting the EPPO from the specialized investigators of the National Criminal Agency, without adequate replacement;
  • rerouting most of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office cases from the Specialized Penal Court to lower courts, with little expertise in crimes under the competence of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office;
  • and constituting a de facto amnesty in a substantial number of active investigations into fraud affecting the financial interests of the EU in the Slovak Republic.

Moreover, such significant change is being done through an accelerated legislative procedure and raising concerns as to its compliance with obligation laid down in Article 4(3) TEU that includes a mutual legal obligation for the EU and its Member States to assist each other in carrying out the tasks stemming from the Treaties.