With 26 votes in favour, Romania's Laura Codruţa Kövesi was nominated as the European Parliament's favourite candidate for the post of Head of the European Public Prosecutor's Office on Wednesday 27 February, following a vote in the Committee on Civil Liberties (LIBE). Frenchman Jean-François Bohnert finished second with 22 votes, followed by German Andrés Ritter, who received only one vote.
On Tuesday evening, the Committee on Budgetary Control (CONT) made the same choice, but with a tighter result: 12 votes for the Romanian against 11 for the French and one vote for the German.
MEPs voted after hearing each of the candidates (see EUROPE 12202) for more than an hour on Tuesday. If the German bid obviously did not convince, the battle was close between the French and the Romanian. But Jean-François Bohnert's speaking skills and European experience were not enough when compared to the experience of the former Chief Prosecutor of the Romanian Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office, Laura Codruţa Kövesi, who is used to handling high-level cases.
Reactions on the web were very strong this Wednesday. "A great victory for the EU! A great victory for the rule of law", Romanian MEP Cristian Dan Preda (EPP) said on Twitter. "Her competence, courage and dignity are an example", said Roberta Metsola (EPP, Malta).
The battle with the Council of the EU, which has chosen Jean-François Bohnert (see EUROPE 12198), has begun. The politicisation of this appointment, the Romanian government's open hostility towards Mrs Kövesi and its active smear campaign (see EUROPE 12193) suggest that negotiations will be particularly difficult.
Will the European Parliament defend to the end the controversial appointment of Mrs Kövesi against a Frenchman who is largely rejected by the Member States? And to whom will Germany, whose candidate finds himself out of the game, give its support?
Romania has been excluded from the trio of ambassadors (Finland, Croatia, Portugal) mandated to negotiate with the Parliament. In the final vote, the country alone will not be able to block the appointment of Laura Codruţa Kövesi, if she is selected, since the vote will be by a simple majority.
On the Parliament side, the result of the vote of the LIBE Committee and the recommendation of the CONT Committee will now be forwarded to the Conference of Presidents of the Parliament and the political groups. They will decide on the continuation of the procedure on 7 March next, before the start of negotiations. (Original version in French by Marion Fontana)