EU Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO): Council appoints European prosecutors

The Council today appointed the European prosecutors of the European Public Prosecutor's Office:

• Frédéric Baab
• Cătălin-Laurențiu Borcoman
• Jaka Brezigar
• Danilo Ceccarelli
• Gatis Doniks
• Yvonne Farrugia
• Teodora Georgieva
• Daniëlle Goudriaan
• Petr Klement
• Tomas Krušna
• Tamara Laptoš
• Katerina Loizou
• Ingrid Maschl-Clausen
• José Eduardo Moreira Alves d'Oliveira Guerra
• Juraj Novocký
• Andrés Ritter
• Maria Concepción Sabadell Carnicero
• Gabriel Seixas
• Kristel Siitam-Nyiri
• Harri Tiesmaa
• Yves Van Den Berge
• Dimitrios Zimianitis

The prosecutors will supervise investigations and prosecutions and will constitute the EPPO College, together with the European Chief Prosecutor.

European prosecutors are appointed for a non-renewable term of six years. The Council may decide to extend the mandate for a maximum of three years at the end of this period. As part of the transitional rules for the first mandate following the creation of the EPPO, the European prosecutors from one third of the member states, determined by drawing lots, will hold a three year non-renewable mandate. This is the case for the prosecutors from Greece, Spain, Italy, Cyprus, Lithuania, Netherlands, Austria and Portugal.

Each member state nominated the candidates for the position of European prosecutor. These must be candidates who are active members of the public prosecution service or judiciary of the member state, whose independence is beyond doubt and who possess the qualifications required for appointment to high prosecutorial or judicial office in their respective member states. They must have relevant practical experience of national legal systems, of financial investigations and of international judicial cooperation in criminal matters. The selection panel then drew up the reasoned opinions and the ranking for each of the nominated candidates who fulfilled the conditions. After having received the reasoned opinions, the Council selected and appointed one of the candidates to be the European Prosecutor for each of the participating member states.

Background

The European Public Prosecutor’s Office will be an independent body of the EU responsible for investigating, prosecuting and bringing to judgment crimes against the financial interests of the Union (e.g. fraud, corruption, cross-border VAT fraud above 10 million euros). In that respect the EPPO shall undertake investigations, and carry out acts of prosecution and exercise the functions of prosecutor in the competent courts of the member states.

In 2019 the Council and the European Parliament appointed Laura Codruţa Kövesi to be the first European chief prosecutor.

There are currently 22 member states participating in the EPPO (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Spain).

The EPPO is expected to start its operation at the end of 2020. It will be based in Luxembourg.

• Council implementing decision appointing the European prosecutors of the EPPO
• 'European Public Prosecutor's Office (background information)