Draft articles of an EU treaty presented to the Convention on the Future of Europe would allow the appointment of a European public prosecutor and for the harmonisation of criminal law.
The draft articles are based on the conclusions of a convention working group on justice and home affairs that was chaired by the former Taoiseach, Mr John Bruton.
Mr Bruton stressed that, although the articles would permit the establishment of a European public prosecutor's office, any decision to do so would have to be taken unanimously by EU member-states and approved by the European Parliament.
The prosecutor would be responsible for "investigating, prosecuting and bringing to judgment the perpetrators, and their accomplices, of serious crimes affecting several member-states and of offences against the Union's financial interests".
Mr Bobby McDonagh, one of the Government's representatives at the convention, said it was too early to comment on the articles in detail.
But he expressed reservations about the need for a European public prosecutor and suggested that the Government wishes to preserve the national veto in a number of areas.
The draft articles would allow the EU to "adopt framework laws containing minimum rules concerning the definition of incriminations and sanctions" for offences with a cross-border dimension.
These include terrorism, human trafficking, drugs trafficking, money laundering, corruption, computer crime and organised crime.
The draft also calls for harmonisation of legal definitions governing crimes "affecting a common interest which is the subject of a Union policy".
An annexe to the draft suggests that such offences could include "fraud affecting the financial interests of the Union, counterfeiting of the euro, facilitation of unauthorised entry and residence, counterfeiting and piracy of products, environmental crime, and also racism and xenophobia".
