By common accord of 16 October 2019, the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union appointed Ms Laura Codruţa Kövesi as the first European Chief Prosecutor. In addition, by decision of 27 July 2020, the Council of the European Union appointed the first European Prosecutors of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office.
In order to mark solemnly the official commencement of the activities of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office, a sitting of inauguration was held today at 11.00 at the Court of Justice of the European Union. During that sitting, the European Chief Prosecutor and the European Prosecutors of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office gave the solemn undertaking to comply with the obligations arising from their duties. Mr Koen Lenaerts, President of the Court of Justice of the European Union, and Ms Laura Codruţa Kövesi made speeches on that occasion.
The solemn undertaking was given by Ms Laura Codruţa Kövesi (RO), Mr Frédéric Baab (FR), Mr Cătălin-Laurențiu Borcoman (RO), Mr Jaka Brezigar (SI), Mr Danilo Ceccarelli (IT), Mr Gatis Doniks (LV), Ms Yvonne Farrugia (MT), Ms Teodora Georgieva (BG), Ms Daniëlle Goudriaan (NL), Mr José Eduardo Guerra (PT), Mr Petr Klement (CZ), Mr Tomas Krušna (LT), Ms Tamara Laptoš (HR), Ms Katerina Loizou (CY), Ms Ingrid Maschl-Clausen (AT), Mr Juraj Novocký (SK), Mr Andrés Ritter (DE), Ms Maria Concepción Sabadell Carnicero (ES), Mr Gabriel Seixas (LU), Ms Kristel Siitam-Nyiri (EE), Mr Harri Tiesmaa (FI), Mr Yves Van Den Berge (BE) and Mr Dimitrios Zimianitis (EL), in the following words:
‘I solemnly undertake to be completely independent in carrying out my responsibilities, in the interest of the Union as a whole, and neither to seek nor take instructions from any person or entity external to the European Public Prosecutor’s Office. I further undertake to comply with the duty of confidentiality, as regards all information held by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office’.
The European Public Prosecutor’s Office is an independent body of the European Union responsible for investigating, prosecuting and bringing to judgment criminal offences against the financial interests of the European Union (for example, fraud, corruption and cross-border VAT fraud above € 10 million). In that respect, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office undertakes investigations, carries out acts of prosecution and exercises the functions of prosecutor in the competent courts of the Member States. It is based in Luxembourg.
There are currently 22 Member States participating in that enhanced cooperation (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia and Spain).
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