Editorial: The elusive EU funds sentinel

She came. She heard. She was completely at a loss. That is the experience the EU’s chief prosecutor recounted to people’s representatives from across Europe after a visit to Malta.

Shamefully, nobody was able to tell Laura Codruţa Kövesi which entity in Malta is ultimately responsible to investigate financial crime involving EU funds.

What she told MEPs sitting on two committees that deal with civil liberties, justice, home affairs and budgetary control matters is worth repeating:

“I visited Malta, I had meetings with the national authorities and, after two days, it was very difficult for me to identify the institution that is responsible to detect the crimes because all of them said: ‘It’s not me, it’s them.’

“And when I visited them, they said: ‘It’s not us, it’s them.’ So, we still have to work on this.”

She was in Malta last October and what she told the two committees a few days ago indicates she does not seem to have changed her opinion.

It is not clear whether any of the officials Kövesi met indicated who they were referring to by “them”. It, therefore, cannot be determined whether such an entity does exist but nobody knows about it or whether the government simply did...