Kövesi, very honored for vote in European Parliament’s LIBE committee

Romania’s former Head of National Anticorruption Directorate, Laura Codruta Kövesi, said on Wednesday that the vote she received in the LIBE Committee of the European Parliament is for the entire judiciary in Romania and for all the citizens of the country.

Laura Codruta Kövesi also said on arrival to Bucharest she was very honored for this vote and said she did not ask for Government's support to get the post of Chief Prosecutor of the European Prosecutor's Office, nor did she expect it.

Kövesi received the highest number of votes on Wednesday in the LIBE Committee of the European Parliament after hearings for the post of Chief Prosecutor of the European Prosecutor's Office.

RRA Correspondent in Brussels, Amalia Bojescu, explains the next steps in this process: "Former DNA chief Laura Codruta Kövesi has been selected first in the list of candidates for the post of European Chief Prosecutor, after a secret vote in the European Parliament's Civil Liberties Committee. She won 26 votes, whereas French candidate Jean-Francois Bohnert won 22 and German Andreas Ritter won one vote.

Result of the vote in the LIBE Committee and recommendation of the Committee on Budgetary Control, which also designated Laura Codruţa Kövesi as the preferred candidate, also through a secret vote, will be forwarded to the Conference of Presidents, consisting of the President of the European Parliament and the leaders of political groups.

Conference of Presidents will meet next week, March 7, and will set the stages to be followed before negotiations with the Council.

The two European institutions need to reach a consensus on the nomination, as the Council has established its negotiating mandate following a secret vote in the Committee of Representatives.

France's Jean-Francois Bohnert was ranked first with 50 points, followed by Laura Codruta Kövesi and Andreas Ritter with 29 points each.

It is hoped that the future European Chief Prosecutor will be appointed by the end of the current European legislative term".

Source:RRA.Translated by Miruna Matei