Interview met Laura Kövesi (EOM)
/Kövesi, who expects the European public prosecutor’s office (EPPO) to receive more than 3,000 cases, has been battling to increase the agency’s budget, proposed at €37.7m. EU officials argue the funds, already increased once, are sufficient for the launch year and hope the organisation will be ready to start – as planned – later in 2020.
Her biggest problem may be the decision of five EU member states – Denmark, Ireland, Hungary, Poland and Sweden – not to join. In an attempt to persuade Hungary, where the prime minister’s friends and family have won lucrative EU-funded contracts, EU officials attempted to link disbursement of EU funds to the rule of law. Hungary still refused.
Expectations of Kövesi are high. The families of the murdered investigative journalists Daphne Caruana Galizia and Ján Kuciak wrote to the EU council of ministers to argue for her appointment, describing her as “the bravest and most distinguished candidate for the job”. Kövesi, they said, was in the same mould as Caruana Galizia and Kuciak, who targeted corruption in high places.
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