The Member States' ambassadors to the EU (Coreper) adopted without discussion on Wednesday 17 April a decision of the Council of the EU on the “exercise of powers” of its Secretary General with regard to possible complaints from candidates for the post of Head of the European Public Prosecutor's Office.
In practical terms, the Decision empowers the Secretary-General of the institution to approve, on behalf of and under the responsibility of the Council of the EU, replies to complaints lodged with the Council of the EU by candidates who have been excluded from the selection procedure or who do not appear on the short list of qualified candidates drawn up by the Selection Committee (see EUROPE 12187/27) for the appointment of the Head of the European Public Prosecutor's Office (see EUROPE 12232/11) and who consider that they are adversely affected by these decisions.
At the time of the Council of the EU's choice of its favourite candidate (see EUROPE 12196/14), Italy and Spain had also criticised the final list of the selection committee, which contained only three names. The procedural requirements do in fact provide for a short list of three to five candidates and these countries, which also had candidates among the 11 persons called for interviews at the end of January (see EUROPE 12182A6), would have preferred to have seen a longer list.
According to a European source, no complaints have yet been lodged with the Council of the EU, but there may be in the future. Any complaint will be treated confidentially, she said. See the decision: https://bit.ly/2KK9z6N (Original version in French by Marion Fontana)