After the decision by the Conference of Presidents (EP President David Sassoli and political group leaders) on 17 October 2019, Ms Laura Codruţa Kövesi is the first European Chief Prosecutor. She can now start her seven-year mandate. The Council endorsed the nomination on 14 October 2019. The EP and the Council laid their dispute on the candidate to rest in September.

Ms Kövesi, a Romanian national, comes from the Prosecutor’s Office attached to the High Court of Cassation and Justice of Romania. She held various positions as prosecutor during her professional career in Romania. She gained renown as chief of the National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA), where she initiated several corruption prosecutions against top Romanian officials.

As European Chief Prosecutor, she will be tasked mainly with organising the work of the EPPO and representing the Office in contacts with EU institutions, Member States, and third countries. She will be assisted by two deputies and will chair the college of prosecutors, which will be in charge of defining strategy and internal rules and ensuring coherence across and within PIF cases.