Lenaerts (EUCJ) about abuse of office: It shouldn't depend on the size of the damage

The President of the European Union Court of Justice, Koen Lenaerts, on Monday stated that the abuse of office offense shouldn't depend on the size of the damage, while he underscored that there could be an offense without any damages, but still considered a criminal offense.

Koen Laenaers on Monday paid a visit to the High Court of Cassation and Justice, where he met with the head of this high court, Cristina Tarcea. 

In the end of the meeting, Koen Lenaerts held a short press conference, where the journalists asked him whether there should be a value threshold in what concerns the abuse of office crime. 

"I know more or less about this topic. But I can tell you this: if we are talking about criminalization, then the basic principles that all EU member states and EU itself share is that crimes should be very clearly identified as such. Thus, the attention must fall on the definition of corruption crime or the deed that led to the crime - the deed of failing to comply with one's duty - that deed should be very clearly defined. It should depend, at least in principle, on the size of the damage, for there can also be crimes without any damage caused which are still crimes though. Therefore, criminalization is different from compensating for the damages that can be or not be caused. And if they are causes, then we are talking about little or more significant damage. Which is, conceptually speaking, another issue," said Koen Lenaerts.