What the President of Romania<\/b> reveals about the works and days of Laura Kovesi<\/b> and she suggests that he should go to bed.<\/b><\/p>\n
And suddenly, just as Romania is left without a government<\/b> and President Nikusor Dan is trying to find a pro-European majority, a interview<\/b> of European prosecutor<\/b> Laura Covesi, with ironic references to the Romanian president, came to further stir the already troubled waters. Distinction of powers is certainly not Ms. Covesi’s trump card.<\/b><\/p>\n
The interview was published Friday on the investigative journalism website context.ro, which specializes in corruption<\/b> and organized crime.<\/b><\/p>\n
During the interview, Covesi was asked to respond to statements by President Nikusor Dan that “during her tenure at the DNA (National Anti-Corruption Agency) abuses were committed, but they need to be documented.” <\/b>But adding that during her tenure as European Public Prosecutor she has accumulated knowledge and experience.<\/p>\n
The paradox is that although these presidential statements to Europa Fm were made on 16 April, i.e. before the dissolution of the ruling coalition and the fall of the government, the European Public Prosecutor chose to respond precisely at the most crucial moment for her country,<\/b> namely during the talks to form a new coalition government without going to the polls and without jeopardising the country’s European course.<\/p>\n
A danger that in Romania is visible, since it was necessary to cancel presidential elections to prevent an unknown pro-Russian from being elected, while a far-right pro-Russian party, <\/b>the AUR, is gaining ground and calling for a prime minister from its ranks.<\/p>\n
In her exclusive interview in this far from neutral time – instead published on the day when all of Europe was celebrating the victory over Nazism and the end of World War II, on the eve of Europe Day – Mrs. Covesi responds to the Romanian President in a very aggressive way:<\/b><\/p>\nThe President and good scores in the… Math Olympiads!<\/b><\/h2>\n
“Generally I don’t comment on what politicians say, but it is still a statement by the President of Romania that not only affected me, but affected the whole important institution in Romania, called the National Anti-Corruption Agency, and many prosecutors who worked or work there. Certainly, the position of President of Romania is a difficult, stressful, tiring position. I wish the President a lot of sleep, a good sleep.<\/b> The country needs him to get back in good shape.”<\/p>\n
And he didn’t stop there. Turning to the President personally, she sent him another message:<\/p>\n
“The fact that you scored well in the International Mathematics Olympiads does not give you the right to make such statements.”<\/b><\/p>\n
Her problem is again the way the heads of Romania’s major prosecutor’s offices are appointed, choosing to criticize the process and stating:<\/p>\n
“When the President of the State states both during the election campaign and afterwards that he will negotiate appointments for the positions of prosecutor general and DNA, he sends a certain message. I know many good prosecutors in the system who did not run for office because they said: Well, if the positions are negotiated, the appointment has already been negotiated, the name is known, and then why should I run?”<\/b><\/p>\n
The fact that in Romania the President has the final say, after a list has been drawn up, does not seem to matter…<\/b><\/p>\n“I’m still the scarecrow of everyone”…<\/b><\/h2>\n
As for the rumours that she will get into politics or run for an office in Romania after her term at the European Public Prosecutor’s Office ends, she says: “I left Romania almost eight years ago and I am still everyone’s scarecrow. If you want to achieve something, all you have to do is say ‘Bring on Covesi’ and everyone is afraid and accepts what you want. <\/b>I have no political connections. I have never expressed any intention of getting involved in politics. I saw that there was all kinds of speculation that I would run for President, that I would be appointed Minister of Justice, that I would be appointed Director of SRI. It’s honorable, it’s very nice, but it was never anything concrete. And dI have no plans to go into politics, I don’t want to create any kind of political party. <\/b>I don’t want to form any political alliances with anybody, I really haven’t followed these scenarios and I really don’t care and I really think it’s a smokescreen. In a real democracy, you debate real candidates, and I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, you don’t debate the ghost of Covesi. <\/b>I have no plans to get into politics, I have no plans to create any kind of political party. I categorically rule that out.”<\/p>\nFears of brainwashing<\/b><\/h2>\n
What he says he would like is, for example, “to have the opportunity to train young prosecutors and judges who could certainly learn things from a former prosecutor general, a former head of the DNA and a former European prosecutor general, especially about the new powers of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office. I have been told through various channels that I would brainwash new judges and that would not be appropriate. <\/b>Of course, I do not take such statements into account and I do not listen to such things, but I do not want to return to a position that requires me to be a member of a political party.”<\/p>\n
As she underlined, “if someone needs my experience in Romania, I am ready to help. I don’t want to be hired, I can do it voluntarily, without asking for money. Whoever needs my professional experience, I am ready to offer it, I am ready to discuss with anybody, either about the prosecution, about the amendment of laws, about how to improve the justice system. I already have experience in 24 Member States, I have seen how justice works in almost all the Member States of the European Union. If someone in Romania needs this experience, I will certainly offer it. I don’t need to join a party, I don’t need to run for anything.<\/b> It is an experience that you can give in the context of volunteering, without being hired.”<\/p>\n“There was Covesi, she was making files…”<\/b><\/h3>\n
When it was pointed out to her that since her departure no corruption cases involving politicians have appeared in Romania, she said again in an ironic tone:<\/p>\n
“Maybe corruption is over in Romania, right? I keep hearing that. There was Covesi, she was making dossiers, everyone thought Romania was corrupt. Now, if there are no more dossiers, everyone probably thinks Romania is a clean country. We all know it is not. We all know there are problems.<\/b> I have mentioned this problem with VAT fraud, with customs fraud many times. Everybody says there is no money in the budget, let’s put the money in the budget. Let’s do something. The European Public Prosecutor’s Office can help, it can contribute.”<\/p>\n
About VAT fraud and tax evasion in Romania,<\/b>he says: “Such crimes cannot happen without the complicity of certain authorities. Now, whether it is ordinary officials, civil servants or various political figures in different positions who help, we have seen in our files that such situations exist, so we do not exclude them.”<\/p>\n
And he goes on to answer another question:<\/p>\n
“If nobody investigates this phenomenon, if nobody investigates tax evasion, you cannot see these things. We see it, we have records where there is VAT fraud, the money that comes from VAT fraud is used in election campaigns. We see complicity between politicians who help obtain certain subsidies or the way European funds are allocated.<\/b><\/p>\n
Just this week I asked for the immunity of a Member of Parliament in Poland to be lifted for exactly this case. There were public procurement procedures for the award of European funds, and this Member of Parliament asked for money to intervene and help a particular company win the contract. I asked for immunity to be lifted. <\/b>So we see that these things are happening. But, I repeat, if European funds are not involved, we have no jurisdiction.<\/b> And there is another situation that we see quite often. A project is initiated by European funds. The moment they find out that an investigation has started, and they find out because you have to ask for documents, they have to find out whether the money came from the national budget or from the European budget. When they see that the European Public Prosecutor’s Office has started an investigation, they transfer the project to national funds, and at that moment you can no longer do anything. Then only a national prosecutor’s office can investigate. It doesn’t only happen in Romania, it happens in other member states.<\/p>\n
So, they always try, those who want to steal the money, to find the best method not to be detected or, if detected, not to be able to be investigated.”<\/p>\n
However, the proof that there is nothing more dangerous than the criminalisation of a country’s political life is the new government crisis in Romania.<\/b> The odd thing is that while this is exactly what we are discussing in Greece at the moment, namely the criminalisation of political life,<\/b> the fall of the pro-European Romanian government just ten months after its formation has gone completely under the radar. Mostly of PASOK, as the Romanian sister party has allied itself with the far right!<\/b><\/p>\n
What happened in Romania is proof that the Socialists have now lost all trace of political morality. And not only in Romania. The PES, the party of the European Socialists, whistled indifferently, even issuing a statement of… support for the Romanian Socialists!<\/b><\/p>\n
Specifically, we read that “the PES stands strongly on the side of its Romanian member party, the Social Democratic Party (PSD), and supports the rapid formation of a pro-European government under new leadership. Building a sustainable majority must be based on dialogue, mutual respect and a shared commitment to achieve concrete improvements in the daily lives of citizens.” Avoid adventurous cooperation with the Eurosceptic far-right!<\/b><\/p>\n
In contrast to the Greens, who issued an angry statement noting that the Romanian Socialists had crossed the red line, namely that of excluding any cooperation with the far-right.<\/p>\n
The neighbouring country has now entered a new, perhaps the worst, adventure as everything is up in the air again. <\/b>The country has again been left without a government at the risk of rising borrowing costs, a downgrade by international agencies and the loss of European funds, especially those from the Recovery Fund.<\/p>\n
The four-party government had emerged in June 2025, seven months after elections on 1 December 2024. In that election, three ultra-nationalist, pro-Russian, far-right parties had secured nearly 35% of the seats.<\/b><\/p>\n
A pro-European coalition government was eventually formed by the top-voting Social Democratic Party (PSD), the Liberals of the National Liberal Party (PNL), the Save Romania Union (USR) founded by President Nikusor Dan, and the Democratic Alliance of Magyars (UDMR), representing the Hungarian minority.<\/p>\n
Liberals’ nominee Ili\u00e9 Boloian received a vote of confidence in June 2025. And on 15 December 2025, the government survived its sixth motion of impeachment in six months!<\/b><\/p>\n
And the drama began:<\/p>\n
The budget debate was postponed until the new year, on 20 April 2026 Soren Grindeanu’s Socialists left the government, and on 27 April they collaborated (listen, listen!) with Georg Simion’s far-right AUR party, jointly submitting a motion of censure, which was debated last Tuesday, 5 May, when the government lost the decree in parliament.<\/b><\/p>\n
Ilie Boloian thus became the seventh Romanian prime minister since 2009 whose government fell after a motion of impeachment.<\/b><\/p>\n
Shortly before the crucial vote, Boloian had raised the crucial question: “Can anyone say how Romania will work from tomorrow, do you have a plan?” <\/b>He received no answer. All he received was 281 votes against his government.<\/p>\nNobody knows how the country will be governed<\/b><\/h3>\n
Things went like this:<\/p>\n
The now caretaker Prime Minister Bolyoyan said his party was moving to the opposition and called on those who caused the crisis to figure out how the country will be governed.<\/b><\/p>\n
The Social Democrats would like a minority government with the Hungarian party – which in 2021 brought down the same four-party government when it left in 2021.<\/p>\n
The Hungarian party does not want a prime minister from either the Liberals or the Social Democrats.<\/p>\n
The far right wants a prime minister from its own party<\/b>, ruling out a prime minister from the Socialists, even though it brought down the government with them.<\/p>\n
Save Romania (USR) president Dominic Fritz announced that his party would not negotiate a new government with the Social Democrats, accusing them of being united with the far-right in their pursuit of not implementing reforms.<\/b><\/p>\n
USR founder President Dan said he would not swear in a government that included the far-right.<\/b><\/p>\nReforms every 45 days<\/b><\/h3>\n
The only way to avoid new elections – Romania has never had early elections – is for the caretaker prime minister to present a new government<\/b> to parliament every 45 days and ask for a vote of confidence, appointing a… different government each time! In other words, go all the way to elections with reshuffles every 45 days.<\/p>\n
What country can work that way? What decisions can 45-day cabinets make?<\/p>\n
Faced with the complete impasse, Boloyan met on May 7 with the USR leader and signed a joint message to the Romanian people, denouncing the destructive attitude of the Socialists<\/b> and announcing their intention to work together, coordinating their next steps “against this artificially induced crisis.”<\/p>\n
“We are not doing this for our parties. We’re doing it for Romania,” concluded Bolajian and Fritsch.<\/p>\n
But in the end, why is all this happening? And is it a mere coincidence that in December 2025, 813 (out of 7,000) Romanian judges signed a joint letter to interfere with their work? Is it a coincidence that first on the list was Laura Covesi’s name, although she is a sitting European Public Prosecutor? <\/b>Is it a coincidence that many of them then removed their signatures complaining that the original text was altered?<\/b><\/p>\n
Nothing is coincidental in life and politics.<\/b>For after the text was made public, protests broke out in Romania that lasted three days and led to the events that followed.<\/p>\n
This is not the first time. The criminalisation of political life, the prosecution of politicians who were then acquitted, the blackmailing of politicians with files from intelligence agency surveillance, has prevented the country from catching its breath for more than thirty years.<\/b><\/p>\n
The Romanian Intelligence Service was established in March 1990. It was just a christening! <\/b>A mere rename of the dreaded and terrible Ceausescu-era Securitate, which numbered 500,000 members!<\/b><\/p>\n
Apparently, they kept on doing business the way they knew how to do it: watching everyone, keeping secret files and putting them at the service of judges to be used whenever they “needed” to criminalize political life.<\/b><\/p>\n“Every major political disagreement is settled through files”!<\/b><\/h3>\n
Under Basesku, the phrase “every major political disagreement is settled through files” was circulated as an expression.<\/b><\/p>\n
After the Socialists left the government, Claudia Rossou, a former prosecutor at the National Anti-Corruption Agency (DNA), where she had served during Laura Covesi’s time in charge, wrote on her social media account: “I am by no means a devotee of movement analysis in the Romanian political scene, because throughout my professional career I have realized, first with regret and then with resignation, that everyone is the same and that, beyond the disguise in the eyes of the public, behind it there is a complex network of common interests, beyond political views and dogmas. <\/b>The number of hands being struck under the table has always exceeded the number of feet.”<\/p>\n
She also referred to the rumour that reached her ears that the Liberal internal opposition was persuaded to side with Boloian when it became aware of the existence of a file in the archives of the Directorate of Investigations into Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT). And that similar messages were received by Socialist leader Grindeanu, as well as others.<\/p>\n
Worth noting, however, that the same prosecutor is the one who had prepared the criminal files of former Bucharest mayor (and later prime minister of a centrist minority government that was impeached in February 2020) Ludovic Orb\u00e1n.<\/p>\n
Orban faced charges in 2016, amid a municipal election campaign, and the same had happened to Leah Olguta Vasileskou, who was running for the municipality of Craiova.<\/p>\n
Both cases resulted in final acquittals in court. The mayor of Krajowa was finally acquitted in 2025 in a case that had been pending for nearly seven years and had affected her professional and personal life. The courts ruled that the events for which she was brought to trial did not constitute crimes and the case was finally closed.<\/b><\/p>\n
According to the dismissed charges, the mayor had solicited money from businessmen who had undertaken the renovation of the city’s downtown to fund her election campaign.<\/p>\n
There’s more: on the day the president was trying to bring the Socialists and Liberals together to prevent the government from falling, anti-corruption prosecutors ordered the leaders of the two parties in Bistritsa and Salai,<\/b> on charges of money laundering.<\/p>\n
There was a huge uproar and resignations that did anything but help the understandings.<\/p>\n
In short, what has been circulating in Romania for many years is that political life in the country is “regulated” by the files kept by various agencies and used according to the political situation.<\/b><\/p>\nJudge Morar’s clash with Covesi and the secret services<\/b><\/h3>\n
At the end of 2022, a book (700 pages) by Daniel Morar,<\/b> former head of the National Anti-Corruption Agency (DNA) and Constitutional Court judge, Daniel Morar, was published in Romania, entitled “It could have been different.<\/b><\/p>\n
Laura Contrutta Covesi is quoted several times in the former judge’s book, mostly negatively. According to Morar, “her attitude lacked professional honesty”, “she chose to manipulate”,<\/b> “she subverted the standard of normal criminal justice by involving the secret services in judicial work and calmly claiming that this was natural. Those who held a contrary view were accused, threatened and eventually investigated criminally or even arrested.”<\/p>\n
Today, having reached the highest judicial offices, Morar argues that only 20% of what the secret services wrote in their reports could be used!<\/b><\/p>\n
With great bitterness he describes the judge’s struggle with the powerful secret services: “Over the years, state officials have offered their docile mediocrity to the intelligence agencies in return for protection and support for career advancement. So we live in a state where almost nothing important happens without the support of the intelligence services. We live in a mediocre country because of them.”<\/b><\/p>\nA heated debate: “It’s my decision and you will respect it!”<\/b><\/h3>\n
What had really infuriated him was the Memoranda of Understanding between prosecutors and intelligence agencies, signed in 2009. He then, he says, had a heated discussion with Covessi on the phone.<\/p>\n
He says: “The clauses in those protocols infuriated me. They were against the law, allowed SRI (secret service) officers to carry out criminal investigation activities and obliged prosecutors to keep them informed about the progress of cases. I tried to keep the SRI as far away from judicial activity as possible, and Contrutta Covesi and Gabriela Scuthea voluntarily delegated to them powers in criminal investigations that the law did not grant them. <\/b>I was the Attorney General of the National Anti-Corruption Agency and Laura Covesi was the Attorney General. I had a heated discussion with her on the phone in which I chided her for entering into the protocol without consulting me and, more importantly, for involving the Ministry of Public Prosecution in a collaboration that was not permitted by law. Covessi told me that it was her decision and that everyone had to respect it. I replied that the DNA would not respect the illegal provisions of a secret act.”<\/b><\/p>\n
Today, 36 years after the fall of the Ceausescu regime, the former Securitate are still “making files” in Romania and the European Union has ensured that these methods are transferred across the old continent.<\/b> Surely it could have been otherwise…<\/b><\/p>\n
*This article was published at liberal.gr<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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