The European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO) in Sofia is facing staffing problems: some of the EU-delegated prosecutors who started working on VAT and EU money fraud cases in Bulgaria are leaving, while others are already applying for other jobs.
Euractiv writes about it.
The EPPO is the EU's independent decentralized public prosecutor's office, which is empowered to investigate, prosecute and prosecute those guilty of crimes affecting the EU budget.
The EPPO in Sofia started functioning in 2020, but so far two of Bulgaria's nine EU-delegated prosecutors have resigned and are returning to work in the Bulgarian judiciary, while a third prosecutor is still applying for a job at Eurojust.
Another five are participating in competitions to return to the Bulgarian prosecutor's office, which the EU criticizes for poor results in the fight against corruption at the highest levels of government.
As for other employees, almost all administrators and some assistant prosecutors have resigned.
The administrators, who resigned from the registry, informed the chief prosecutor of the EU, Laura Koveshi, about a number of violations.
In a comment, Koveshi's office noted that "the resignations are of a personal nature, so the EPPO as an organization cannot comment on this."
The prosecutor's office's annual report is due to be published in early March, and Koveshi is expected to comment on problems in Bulgaria and other EU countries.
So far, the Bulgarian office has achieved only one suspended sentence in a criminal case against an employee of the State Agricultural Fund, which administers EU agricultural subsidies. This case was initiated by the Bulgarian Prosecutor's Office and transferred to the EPPO after this EU institution started functioning.
HR issues arose already during the selection of European delegated prosecutors. After the first procedure, the EPPO Board approved only four of the 10 prosecutors nominated by the High Judicial Council of Bulgaria, while the others were rejected as unfit. After that, the number of delegated European prosecutors in Sofia increased to nine, although a total of 15 people are needed.
Earlier, Koveshi said that her department is ready to investigate cases of evasion of European Union sanctions against Russia, when this violation will be criminalized at the level of the bloc.