In an open letter to the EU Council, the families of the killed investigative journalists, the Slovak Jan Kuciak and the Maltese Daphne Caruana Galizia asked the leaders of the EU member states to choose Laura Codruţa Kövesi to be the first European Public Prosecutor.
Reuters reports they wrote she is “the bravest and most distinguished candidate … who has shown herself willing to bring charges forward when all other institutions within a member state have failed to act… A collapse in the rule of law in our countries (…) led to the murders of our family members (…). De facto immunity from prosecution emboldened their murderers, who operated complex cross-border rackets that should fall under the EPPO’s mandate.”
Kövesi served as head of Romania anti-corruption office (DNA) for five years. During her office she convicted many politicians, drawing praise from the European Union.
The Romanian government expressed its opposition to the nomination of the former DNA head. Kövesi’s candidature is supported by the European Parliament, while the European Council supports France’s candidate Jean-Francois Bohnert.
