Romanian president Klaus Iohannis said he would wait for the Constitutional Court’s motivation before making a decision on revoking the chief prosecutor of the National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA) Laura Codruta Kovesi.

The Constitutional Court ruled at the end of May that the president should dismiss the DNA chief prosecutor as requested by justice minister Tudorel Toader.

Iohannis refused to revoke Kovesi saying that the minister’s arguments hadn’t convinced him. However, the Constitutional Court ruled that the prosecutors are under the justice minister’s authority and that the president doesn’t really have a say in this matter.

“I am waiting for the Court’s motivation, which we will read until we understand it or we understand some of it, after which I will announce what needs to be done or what I will do,” Iohannis said on Tuesday, June 5, local Mediafax reported.

This was his first official reaction to the Constitutional Court’s decision.

The president added that the Constitutional Court’s decision is not just about revoking or not the DNA chief prosecutor but about the independence of prosecutors in Romania.

“Prosecutors should not be controlled politically. They shouldn’t be subordinated to a politician, even if he is a minister,” Iohannis said.

editor@romania-insider.com