"I have every confidence that Ms Kovesi will do an outstanding job at the head of the European Public Prosecutor's Office. With this agreement, it will now be possible to set up the new office as planned until the end of 2020. The Commission will remain a staunch supporter of the collective efforts to fight fraud and corruption in the EU," EU Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality, Vera Jourova, said.
Initially, the EP endorsed Kovesi for the EPPO post, while the EU council was supporting French prosecutor Jean-Francois Bohnert for the job.
"The European Public Prosecutor will make sure that action at Union level goes one step further, and actually takes criminals to court in cases of criminal offences affecting the Union budget. I wish the newly selected Chief Prosecutor the best of luck in addressing the challenges in front of her. Both the European Commission and OLAF will support her strongly in the tasks ahead," EU Commissioner Guenther H. Oettinger, in charge of Budget and Human Resources, said.
The European Prosecutor's Office's seat will be located in Luxembourg, as Kovesi will sit for a non-renewable term of seven years.
Kovesi faced opposition from her own country's social-democrat government regarding her appointment as top EU prosecutor since she was first announced as a candidate in February.
At the time, former Romanian justice minister Tudorel Toader publicly made it clear that he does not support her candidacy. Toader was also the one who sought and finally achieved Kovesi's dismissal in July, claiming she had allegedly damaged Romania's image abroad.
In March, soon after the EP announced that is backing her for the job, Kovesi was indicted and put under judicial control for bribery and abuse of office by a special investigative unit for magistrates. According to the document, she is not allowed to speak to the media about her file or to leave the country.
Eventually, after Kovesi challenged the indictment, the judicial control was lifted.
