'Great expectations', but EU's first fraud prosecutor undaunted by challenge

MULTI-BILLION-EURO BUDGET

The EU is working on adopting a 2020 budget of nearly 160 billion euros ($177.5 billion). The bloc has lost just under 9 billion euros to tax fraud during 2002-2016, a report by the European Court of Auditors said earlier this year.

Due to be launched in 2020, the EPPO will be geared to investigating and pressing criminal charges in cases crossing the EU's internal borders, particularly those affecting the budget since November 2017. Twenty-two of the EU's 28 member states are participating so far.

Much of the EPPO's efficacy will depend on Kovesi's ability to convince member states to give it the prosecutors and resources it needs. Some, such as Hungary, have not joined, saying prosecutorial powers should remain at the national level.

Kovesi will run the EPPO from a central office in Luxembourg alongside one European prosecutor from each member state. Investigations will be run by delegated prosecutors nationally.

Their number will be determined after negotiations with justice ministers and general prosecutors in each state. Kovesi said estimating the number of potential cases EPPO will handle and the number of prosecutors needed in each state are immediate priorities.

"It is possible that in some states, the desire to have more prosecutors is bigger, maybe other states will not want to have that many," Kovesi said. "There will certainly be talks and negotiations to solve this problem."

Prior to leading Romania's anti-corruption agency, Kovesi was the country’s prosecutor general and worked her way up from being a prosecutor in the central Romanian city of Sibiu.

Though she has protection, she still enjoys doing the things she used to do back then -- walking, going to the park or gym, and attending church and has no plans to change her life in Luxembourg.

"It is what I applied for, what I wanted," Kovesi said. "For now my main concern is to ensure the institution has the budget and resources it needs to work." ($1 = 0.9011 euros)