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France to back Romanian for EU prosecutor, top MEP says
* Paris will change stance to support former anti-corruption chief, according to leader of Renew Europe quoted by politico.eu.
France will back Romanian candidate Laura Codruta Kovesi to be the first EU public prosecutor, according to the leader of the European Parliament group that includes French President Emmanuel Macron's party.
"The French government will inform the Council [of the EU] in the near future that they decided to support Laura Codruta Kovesi," said Dacian Ciolos, a Romanian MEP who is leader of the Renew Europe group, citing what he called "recent information."
"I hope that this will open the way for a decision in this direction," he told reporters at the European Parliament in Strasbourg Tuesday.
A French official close to Macron confirmed that Paris is planning to back Kovesi, who made her name in Romania as the country's anti-corruption chief and prosecuted multiple senior politicians.
Up until now, France has supported its own candidate for the post, Jean-François Bohnert. He said in a recent interview with POLITICO that he had no intention of withdrawing from the race. However, he is reportedly also a frontrunner for a senior post in France.
A spokesperson for France's diplomatic mission to the EU said: "I cannot confirm anything concerning Bohnert for the time being.”
Kovesi and Bohnert were the final two candidates to head the new European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO), which is being created to crack down on fraud and other crimes affecting the EU budget. Up until now, Kovesi had the backing of the European Parliament while Bohnert was the favored candidate of the Council of the EU, made up of the bloc's member governments.
Whether Kovesi will now get the post remains unclear, even if France swings its support behind her. She does not have the backing of the Romanian government and other countries may also oppose her candidacy. However, candidates for the job are treated as individual applicants rather than national representatives so they do not require the support of their own capital.