proposed regulation. As a result, 17 EU member states (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Spain) requested on 14 February 2017 that the proposal be referred to the European Council for their consideration. After no agreement was reached at the European Council on 9 March 2017, 16 members states (the prior 17 less Austria, Estonia and Latvia, plus Cyprus and Portugal) notified the European Parliament, the Council and the commission on 3 April 2017 that they would proceed with establishing the EPPO by the use of enhanced cooperation. This was done under TFEU Article 86, which allows for a simplified enhanced cooperation procedure which does not require authorization from the council to proceed. The participating member states agreed on the legislative text to establish the EPPO on 8 June 2017. By this point, Latvia and Estonia had begun participating in the enhanced cooperation procedure. The proposal was approved by the European Parliament on 5 October 2017, and on 12 October 2017 the regulation was given final approval by the 20 participating member states, which had grown to include Austria and Italy. The EPPO did not have authority to begin investigating or prosecuting crimes until a decision of the Commission approved this, which per the terms of the Regulation could not take place until 3 years after the entry into force of the Regulation in November 2017. On 6 May 2021 the commission's decision launching operations was adopted, with a starting date of 1 June 2021. EPPO members 22 EU member states participate in the enhanced cooperation. The original regulation was joined by 20 member states. Other member states, apart from Denmark which has an opt-out from the area of freedom, security and justice (AFSJ), are permitted to join subsequently. (Ireland also has an opt-out from the AFSJ, but the form of its opt-out is more flexible, giving it the ability to opt-in on a case-by-case basis.) Following the Rutte III Cabinet taking office the Netherlands officially requested to join the EPPO on 14 May 2018. Their participation was approved by the commission on 1 August 2018. Malta requested to join on 14 June 2018, and their participation was approved on 7 August 2018. In a speech in April 2019, Stefan Löfven, Prime Minister of Sweden, stated that he would be recommending to the Swedish Parliament that the country join