It should be stressed that the committee is not expressing a view on the guilt or innocence of the Member concerned or on the advisability of bringing criminal proceedings on the grounds of the statements attributed to the Member.

(2) the rules governing prosecution (discretionary or mandatory prosecution, priorities in criminal policy etc.).

The Member States' criminal systems are divided on the issue of mandatory or discretionary prosecution.

Even if the same penalty is defined for the same offence, there are major divergences in the general rules of criminal law on the Member States, so that the penalty imposed and the penalty served may not be the same (for example in the active detection of offences, the principle of mandatory or discretionary prosecution, the level of the sentence imposed and the sentence actually served).

regarding the independence both of the European Prosecutor and of his/her deputy: insists that such independence be unconditionally guaranteed, with due regard for the separation of powers, and that it be accompanied by the principle of mandatory prosecution; as regards the various possible statutes for deputy prosecutors, permitting such individuals to hold one office only would certainly exclude any possible conflict of interest or hierarchical dependence, even though there would be practical advantages in allowing them to wear ‘two hats’ in the event of cases falling under more than one jurisdiction, a category into which most cases ...[+++]are likely to fall; wonders, therefore, how the principle of subordination to the European Prosecutor would actually be applied and protected, inter alia as regards the disciplinary procedures applying to the Prosecutor’s deputy; calls, likewise, on the Commission to clarify the funding of the major portion of the deputy prosecutors’ human resources and operating costs;

Again, where a Member State whose prosecution system is based on the opportunity principle has jurisdiction under the commonly established rules, and its prosecution services have decided not to bring charges, the other Member States, who would not have jurisdiction, should find it easier to accept such a decision, and to be excluded from bringing charges themselves.