Decision to appoint L.C. Kovesi as head of European Public Prosecutor's Office signed by EP President, Finnish ForMin

Special AGERPRES correspondent, Florin Stefan, reports: The decision to appoint Laura Codruta Kovesi at the helm of the future European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO) was signed on Wednesday during a ceremony that took place at the headquarters of the European Parliament by the EP President David Sassoli and the Finnish Minister of Foreign Affairs, Tytti Tuppurainen, on behalf of the Council of the EU, informed the European legislative body.

The signing of the decision by the two officials representing the parties involved in this process took place after the EP Conference of Presidents took the last step on October 16 in appointing Laura Codruta Kovesi as European chief-prosecutor.

The decision to validate the Conference of Presidents followed an agreement in September between the EP and the Council of the EU negotiators regarding the appointment of the head of the European Public Prosecutor's Office, namely Laura Codruta Kovesi.

The Council of the European Union on October 14 officially validated the appointment of the Romanian prosecutor Laura Codruta Kovesi as a European chief-prosecutor.

The European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO), which is expected to become operational in late 2020, will operate as an independent institution that will have the power to investigate, prosecute and bring to judgment crimes against the EU budget, such as fraud, corruption or serious cross-border VAT fraud exceeding 10 million euros. The list of crimes could be extended in the future to include, for instance, terrorist acts.

Up to now, 22 member states joined the European Public Prosecutor's Office. The five states that do not participate in this yet - Sweden, Hungary, Poland, Ireland, and Denmark - could join any moment now.

EPPO will have its seat at Luxembourg and it will have a chief-prosecutor and a college of prosecutors representing all the participating states. They will coordinate the current investigations carried out by the European delegated prosecutors, located in each participating EU country.

The number one priority of the Council is to see that EPPO becomes operational in November 2020. Laura Codruta Kovesi, as European chief-prosecutor, will have a 7-year term in office, during which she will be mostly building the operational and administrative structure of EPPO and establish good working relations with the national judiciary authorities. "The Council will continue to monitor the creation of an office that will ensure an efficient EPPO to become a pillar of the fight against corruption and fraud with EU funds," stated Finland's Minister of Justice, Anna Maja Henriksson, in her capacity of President of the Council of the EU.