Supreme Court rejects European prosecutor’s appeal over Greek EPPO posts

The Supreme Court ruled that Kövesi’s appeal could not be examined on the merits, as the current legislative framework provides that the right to appeal is reserved exclusively for the judicial officers concerned.

The decision was taken by a large majority, with 72 votes in favour and ten against, ratifying the previous ruling of the Supreme Judicial Council of the Supreme Court, which had decided to renew the prosecutors’ terms for two years rather than five.

The Supreme Court held that Kövesi’s appeal could not proceed on the merits because, under the current legal framework, only the judicial officers concerned have the right to appeal. It also noted that, for an appeal to be admissible, a minority of at least two votes is required at the meeting of the Supreme Judicial Council. In this case, the decision to renew the three prosecutors’ terms for two years had been unanimous, which proved decisive.

During the hearing, the arguments of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office were presented by constitutional law expert Spyros Vlachopoulos, as Kövesi was not present in person. He argued that EU law takes precedence over national law and that the five-year renewal had been decided at EPPO level for all European delegated prosecutors, noting that divergent decisions among member states could undermine the unity of the institution.

A proposal was also made for a preliminary question to be referred to the Court of Justice of the European Union on which body has the authority to decide on the renewal of terms of office. This position was supported by the minority of judges, both on Kövesi’s standing to bring the appeal and on the substance of the question of competence.

On this reasoning, the plenary of the Supreme Court concluded that Kövesi did not have standing to appeal on behalf of the three prosecutors, rejecting her application as inadmissible.

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