EU Council vote backs Romania’s Kovesi for European prosecutor job
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COREPER, the executive body of the Council of the European Union, voted on September 19 in favour of Romanian Laura Codruta Kovesi’s candidacy for the position of chief prosecutor of EU’s newly created Public Prosecutor’s Office.
Kovesi, the former head of Romania’s Anticorruption Directorate (DNA), received 17 out of the 22 votes in COREPER, which is made up of each country’s permanent representatives.
The newly elected European Parliament (EP) announced this July that it would support Laura Codruta Kovesi’s candidacy for the position.
Romania’s government did not support Kovesi’s bid at the previous COREPER vote and announced on September 18 that it would ask the Romanian ambassador to the EU to vote against her.
The 46-year-old became a thorn in the side of Romania’s political class while leading the country’s powerful Anti-Corruption Directorate (DNA).
Kovesi took charge of the DNA in 2013 and in the years that followed, conviction rates rose sharply in one of the EU’s most corrupt countries.
Then, in July last year, she was sacked by the Romanian government.
Thursday’s vote will be followed by a formal one after negotiations with the European Parliament end.
