Introduction

In July 2013, the European Commission presented a legislative proposal for a regulation establishing a European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO). The T.M.C. Asser Instituut organised, shortly thereafter, the first conference in which this proposal was discussed. The main point of departure for that conference was the idea that the establishment of the EPPO would be a step in the direction of bestowing the European Union with the exercise of criminal law competences. The conference focused on constitutional, institutional, legal and operational questions arising from that idea. These issues also comprised the main part of a book delivering the results of the 2013 EPPO conference