[JURIST] EU Justice Commissioner Franco Frattini [official website] announced Tuesday that he will propose strengthening Eurojust [official website], the European Commission's judicial cooperation unit, to facilitate communication between prosecutors in member states where criminal activities cross borders. Frattini also suggested creating a "European prosecutor" position with the power to initiate cross-border investigations. One diplomat told EUobserver that a European prosecutor would not have the same role as a federal prosecutor in the US, as the European Union does not recognize "federal" crimes and different EU member states define criminal activity in different ways. Frattini said he would present his plan in the fall. EUobserver has more.

Eurojust was created in 2002 help national authorities in the "investigation and prosecution of serious cross-border and organised crime." Last October, Eurojust and US prosecutors agreed to share information [JURIST report] relating to terrorism investigations and other cross-border criminal cases.