The ‘yellow vests’ protesters, who have been staging protests in France for many weeks, have displayed a message of support for Laura Codruta Kovesi, the former chief prosecutor of Romania’s National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA) and one of the two candidates for the European Chief Prosecutor position.

“To fight against white-collar corruption, Europe will set up the institution of “European Prosecutor”; so don’t let this job be given to just anyone! Against corruption, we need: Laura Codruta Kovesi!,” reads a post on the Yellow Vests of Justice’s Twitter page, local Hotnews.ro reported.

The message is accompanied by several photos, including one in which Kovesi's picture appears in the center of a heart-shaped banner. The message of this banner reads: “European Prosecutor Against Corruption/We need Laura Codruta Kovesi.”

- ENJEU MAJEUR : PROCUREUR EUROPEEN -
Pour lutter contre le corruption des cols blancs, l'Europe va mettre en place l'institution du " procureur européen " ; alors il ne faut pas laisser nommer n'importe qui à ce poste !
CONTRE LA CORRUPTION,
IL NOUS FAUT :
LAURA CODRUTA KÖVESI ! pic.twitter.com/fZKjbDPkZ7

— Wilfried PARIS . GJJ (@WilSedlex) April 5, 2019

Another photo is a screenshot of an article illustrated with the image of Liviu Dragnea, the president of the ruling Social Democratic Party (PSD) in Romania, which reports that the government in Bucharest wants to prevent the appointment of Kovesi as European Chief Prosecutor.

The support shown by France’s ‘yellow vests’ for the Romanian candidate comes in the context in which the other candidate for the European Chief Prosecutor job is French. Romania’s candidate Laura Codruta Kovesi has the support of the European Parliament (EP) while the EU Council backs the French candidate Jean-François Bohnert. There have been three rounds of negotiations so far between the EP and the EU Council to select one of the two for the top prosecutor job, but all three of them ended without any progress.

Moreover, both the EP and the EU Council have reiterated their support for their favorite candidates last week, which may be a sign that things are rather complicated and the selection process will not end soon.

Meanwhile, Kovesi’s appointment as Chief EU Prosecutor has been strongly opposed by the Romanian government, and the fact that she has been recently indicted for acts of corruption in Romania may have affected her candidacy as well. Nonetheless, she has received yet another message of support last week, from the families of Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia and Slovakian journalist Jan Kuciak, both murdered for uncovering major acts of corruption. They sent a letter to the EU Council in which they called on the Council to choose Kovesi for this key job.

newsroom@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Inquam Photos / Octav Ganea)