BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Commission launched an infringement procedure against Slovenia on Friday over its seizure of European Central Bank data last year after Slovenian authorities failed to provide a satisfactory response to its query about the incident.
Slovenian authorities seized both ECB documents and computer hardware on July 6 last year as part of a national investigation against central bank officials. The ECB had not given prior authoritisation for the Slovenian action.
The Commission subsequently asked for a clarification.
"The Commission was not satisfied with the response provided by the authorities and, without questioning the powers of national authorities under national procedures, decided to open an infringement procedure," the EU executive said in a statement.
It gave Slovenia two months to reply to its letter.