The European Public Prosecutor's Office is a supranational body tasked with investigating and prosecuting crimes affecting the EU's financial interests. However, tackling international crime also requires cooperation with countries outside the Office.
For European prosecutors to achieve their objectives, it is essential that they are able to establish effective cooperation with law enforcement authorities not only in EU Member States but also in other European and non-European countries. However, a closer look at this issue reveals that there are several forms of external cooperation of the European Public Prosecutor's Office and their use in practice is quite uncluttered.
The following text aims to describe this area in detail and to highlight the legal basis on which the various forms of external cooperation are currently implemented.