Bulgarians look to Romania’s Laura Codruța Kövesi, to fight high-level corruption
Bulgarians are hoping that the EU’s new chief prosecutor, Laura Codruța Kövesi, will help them fight corruption. To do so, she will need local support.
Almost a year has passed since the beginning of widespread
anti-corruption protests in Bulgaria, and a visit to the country last week by
the European Union’s chief prosecutor, Laura Codruța Kövesi, has been viewed by
many anti-corruption campaigners as a signal that the EU is about to finally
get tough on what is often portrayed as the most corrupt country in the bloc.
“We are here for you,” Kövesi said as she arrived in the
Bulgarian capital Sofia, her first foreign trip since the European Public
Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) – based in Luxembourg – officially began operations
on June 1.
The EPPO was created with the sole aim of addressing the
large scale misuse of EU funds, and Kövesi was welcomed to Sofia by a crowd of
protestors demonstrating against Bulgaria’s own chief public prosecutor, Ivan
Geshev, whose reputation as a guardian of corrupt high-profile political
figures made him one of the primary targets of the anti-corruption protests.
“If Bulgarian citizens have any knowledge of relevance to
us, they can report it directly to us via our website,” Kövesi said, while
reminding Bulgarian officials that she is not “on a visit”, but “at home”,
investigating internal EU affairs.
“Every citizen of Bulgaria can send information directly to
the EPPO, and this will be the big difference from now on,” she further added
during her meeting with Geshev and the country’s caretaker minister of justice,
Yanaki Stoilov, at a press briefing.
At the same time, Kövesi also warned citizens against
expecting miracles from the EPPO, reminding them that the type of cases that
will be handled by EPPO are complex and will not be dealt with quickly or
easily, and that much of the work is still expected to be dealt with by
Bulgaria’s own judiciary.
The chief topic of discussion at the briefing surrounded the
selection and appointment of the remaining six Bulgarian prosecutors to the
EPPO. The renewed process is set to begin on the June 16.
The EPPO includes 140 delegated prosecutors who are based in
the capitals of the 22 capitals of the member states taking part (Denmark,
Hungary, Ireland, Poland and Sweden have opted out).
In March, Kövesi rejected six of the 10 prosecutors proposed
by Geshev, on the grounds that they lacked any relevant experience in fighting
mismanagement of EU funds.
Bulgaria’s own anti-corruption efforts have so far been
largely focused on relatively less consequential instances of graft, while
high-level individuals who have repeatedly been accused of misusing public and
EU funds have thus far remained entirely untouched.
Highlighting the need to address more serious cases of corruption
first and foremost, Kövesi asked Bulgarians not to “clog” the EPPO system with
“petty cases” such as “a farmer stealing 10,000 euros”.
Kövesi’s timely visit came a week after the United States
imposed sanctions on three high-profile figures in Bulgarian politics, citing
their involvement in corruption.
Businessmen and oligarch Vassil Bozhkov was accused of
accepting bribes from Moscow in exchange for influence in Bulgarian domestic
affairs, while media mogul and former member of parliament Delyan Peevski was
targeted for his overall involvement in corrupt practices, alongside his
right-hand man, Ilko Zhelyazkov. Sanctions have also been placed on 64
businesses operated in Bulgaria by Bozhkov and Peevski.
Peevski, in particular, has been investigated by Geshev’s
team more than once, but “no wrongful dealings” have ever been found.
Meanwhile, the billionaire Bozhkov, having cut ties with
Bulgaria’s former ruling party, GERB, has been in exile in Dubai since June
2020.
While the US sanctions have been welcomed by many, others
have questioned why Bulgaria and the EU were not able to call out and address
the problem internally.
The decision to impose sanctions on these individuals can be
seen as the US highlighting the failures of the Bulgarian judiciary, with US
Ambassador to Bulgaria Herro Mustafa refusing to meet with Geshev throughout
the sanctions process.
The EPPO has been described as “a necessary tool” for the EU
to show member states that it is serious about stamping out corruption, an
issue that remains pressing in Bulgaria.
“With snap parliamentary elections approaching [on July 11],
the awakening of public intolerance towards the current prosecutor’s office is
the best opportunity for citizens and the media to demand clear commitment from
all parties to work on its reform,” says Veselin Stoinev, a political analyst.
While it is understandable that so many Bulgarians are
placing their hopes in Kövesi – who is something of a national hero in her
native Romania, where she previously served as a highly effective
anti-corruption boss – to eradicate high-level graft in the country, she will
not be able to do it alone.
Whoever forms Bulgaria’s new government post-election will
need to be equally determined to work towards a similar goal.
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