Bulgaria: More Details from Laura Kovesi Press Conference

We need experienced, courageous and active prosecutors, said European Chief Prosecutor Laura Kovesi at a press conference in Sofia on Friday. "I came to Sofia to meet the four European delegated prosecutors, we have in the EPPO office here, to see if they needed support in their work. This is a part of my duty to oversee the activities of our decentralised offices in all the participating Member States. One of the first challenges is that the EPPO team is not complete, we are missing six European delegated prosecutors as well as support staff," Kovesi said.

Our prosecutors will investigate independently, she stressed. If a politician calls them and tries to influence their work, they will expose that politician publicly. No one can interfere with our activity, she added.

"I have met with the Minister of Justice Yanaki Stoilov and Bulgaria's Prosecutor General Ivan Geshev. We had open and constructive discussions. I expect the transfer of all the existing cases will accelerate and be completed soon. I am glad that the new selection procedure for the missing European delegated prosecutors will be launched next Wednesday. We have clarified the criteria that the potential candidates have to fulfil and we have a common understanding on that. We will investigate crimes affecting the EU budget," explained Kovesi.

EPPO has already received alerts from the national authorities and from OLAF: 300 cases and 120 private complaints, including some from Bulgaria, Kovesi said. If there is sufficient information, Kovesi's office will investigate all of these cases. She urged people to whistleblow directly to the EPPO and commented that only an independent judiciary can mete out justice./Europost