Credits: WikimediaCommons, Laura Codruta Kövesi
By David Meier
The European Parliament and the member
states of the EU have agreed to appoint former Romanian Anti-Corruption Chief
Prosecutor Laura Codruţa Kövesi as EU Chief Prosecutor despite fierce
opposition of the Romanian government. She has a reputation of being a tough
corruption fighter and her new post enables her to prove this on a European
scale.The decision is an important step for the EU`s quest for tackling the
huge societal challenges of graft and misuse of public funding.
On 24 September 2019, representatives of the
European Parliament and the Council (i.e. the governments of the member states) came to
an agreement as it comes to the appointment of Laura Codruţa Kövesi as head of
the EU`s Public Prosecutors Office (EPPO)
or, in other words, its Chief Prosecutor. This newly-created institution`s task is
to prosecute defendants in cases of crimes against the EU budget, e.g
fraud, graft or cross-border VAT fraud. The EPPO will be in charge for the
investigation of those offences in 22 out of 28 member states, all but the
United Kingdom, Sweden, Hungary, Poland, Ireland and Denmark.
Laura Codruţa Kövesi has an impressive track
record of fighting corruption. In 2013, she became chief prosecutor of
Romania`s National Anti-Corruption Bureau. The establishment of this agency in
2003 was a precondition for Romania`s accession to the EU in 2007. During
Kövesi`s tenure she investigated more than 4000 powerful people ranging from
politicians and members of the public service to representatives of the
judicial system such as prosecutors and judges. Thanks to her more than 70
politicians were convicted among them 2 former prime ministers.
However, the influential elites stroke back.
Due to her oppositon towards a legal reform benefitting corrupt politicians and
her intention to investigate the, at that time most powerful Romanian
politician, ex-party leader of the Romanian Socialists Liviu Dragnea, Laura
Codruţa Kövesi was sacked in June 2018 at the behest of the former Romanian
justice minister Tudorel Toader. Kövesi has lodged an individual complaint with
the European Court for Human Rights against her dismissal. Her enemies did not even bother to
incriminate her. Critics from civil society claim that the charges against her
are purely politically motivated. Besides, Romanian prime minister Viorica Dăncilă lobbied in the EU
Council, i.e. the EU institution gathering the Heads of member states and
governments, against Kövesi`s appointment as head of EPPO which is very unusal
as member states normally try to promote candidacies of their own nationals for
influential posts in the EU.
The
Council and the European Parliament have to agree on the appointment of the
head of EPPO. This proved difficult as the majority of Council members
preferred French candidate, Jean-François Bohnert, while the European
Parliament pushed for the designation of Kövesi. The Parliament eventually
prevailed thanks to Kövesi`s experience and the high simbolism of her
nomination.
In the
course of the last years many European citizens, especially in former communist
countries such as Romania, Hungary or the Czech Republic, took to the streets
in order to rally against endemic corruption. It is perceived as a major
problem and one of the main causes of mass migration of young and educated
people, striving for a better future, from eastern European EU member states
such as Poland, Hungary, Romania, Croatia and Bulgaria but also western
European countries, e.g. Greece and Italy to other
member states.
The fact
that corruption and the misuse of European funds constitute a huge threat to
the existence of the rule of law in member states has been underlined in light
of the murder cases Daphne Caruana Galizia and Ján Kuciak in October 2017 and
February 2018. Both were journalists who had investigated corruption and the
misuse of EU funds in their respective countries Malta and Slovakia.
It is
Kövesi`s merit that she has proven that politicians can be made legally
accountable in countrys suffering from endemic corruption. Her appointment as
head of EPPO is a hopeful sign that the EU is both able and willing to enhance
the fight against corruption.