Meanwhile, in another corrupt EU member state: Romania

[Syt]

https://www.politico.eu/article/laura-codruta-kovesi-rromania-indicts-former-anti-corruption-chief-reports/

Romania indicts former anti-corruption chief Kövesi: reports

The move prevents the European Parliament's pick for EU prosecutor from leaving the country.

Romania on Thursday indicted on corruption charges Laura Codruta Kövesi, a candidate to be the first-ever EU public prosecutor, meaning she cannot travel abroad, according to media reports.

Romania's government, which currently holds the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU, has actively lobbied against Kövesi, who was the country's high-profile anti-corruption chief until she was fired last year.

Kövesi said the indictment is "a measure intended to silence me, to harass all of us in the judicial system who did our job."

She told reporters she has been banned from publicly speaking about the specifics of the case, adding: "Probably some people are in such despair that I might get this job [of chief EU prosecutor], that I'm not allowed to speak to the media anymore."

Leaders of the European Parliament earlier this month backed Kövesi as their top pick to be the EU chief prosecutor, while EU member governments in a vote last month chose French candidate Jean-François Bohnert for the post.

Background article from May last year:

https://www.politico.eu/article/laura-codruta-kovesi-romanian-court-rules-president-should-dismiss-corruption-watchdog/

Romanian court rules president should dismiss corruption watchdog

Ruling prompted protests in Bucharest and other cities.

Romania's Constitutional Court ruled Wednesday that the president should dismiss top anti-corruption prosecutor Laura Codruta Kövesi — a leading figure in fighting graft among high-ranking politicians.

Justice Minister Tudorel Toader had in February called for the removal of Kövesi, whose National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA) has earned praise from the European Commission for its work. Toader accused her of acting beyond her responsibilities, not respecting the authority of the parliament and making defamatory comments about Romania in the international press, but President Klaus Iohannis rejected Toader's request, saying he wasn't convinced by the minister's arguments.

The court ruled Wednesday, however, that the president did not in fact have "discretionary power" in the procedure to dismiss prosecutors, but rather could only evaluate the "regularity and legality" of the procedure.

The ruling limits the president's role in appointing and dismissing top prosecutors, effectively putting all the power to do so in the hands of the justice minister, a political appointee.

"The Court, having regard to the case law so far, established the constitutional conduct to be followed, namely, the issuance by the President of Romania of the decree of dismissal of the chief prosecutor of the National Anticorruption Directorate, Laura Codruta Kövesi," the court said in a statement.

The court decision, backed by six out of nine judges, prompted protests in Bucharest and other Romanian cities in response.

The EU set up a mechanism to monitor corruption and judicial reform within Romania in 2007 when it gained EU membership. The DNA, which was created in 2002, only seemed to build up steam after Kövesi took the reins in 2013 and set to work prosecuting hundreds of public figures, including top politicians.

Many see her as the human face of Romania's anti-corruption fight, while others, including politicians from the ruling party, have accused her of playing political games.

In April, Romania also planned changes to its judiciary laws and criminal codes that were slammed by the Council of Europe's anti-corruption body for violating European anti-corruption standards. The changes were seen by critics in both Romania and Brussels as an attempt by the ruling coalition to let political corruption go unpunished.

[Tamas]

Yeah I think a lot of important people there got really scared when they realised she might become an EU-level prosecutor.

This EU public prosecutor office is a very good and important idea and it should be followed through with real powers, otherwise the East will eat the West alive and ruin the whole thing.

Not that Western politicians aren't corrupt but they seem to have a much better appreciation of scale, and they nip off the excess instead of eating everything up in sight like locusts.