Four senior prosecutors from across Europe have emerged as top contenders to replace Romania’s Laura Codruța Kövesi at the head of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) next year, people familiar with the selection process told Euractiv.
The job to lead the Luxembourg-based EPPO is one of the bloc’s toughest as it involves coordinating a team of cross-border criminal investigators targeting those accused of fraudulently using EU funds – from top officials to criminal organisations.
Germany’s Andrés Ritter, currently the EPPO’s deputy prosecutor, leads the list of candidates, according to three people with knowledge of the confidential process. As a prosecutor with over 25 years of experience at home, Ritter has specialised in white-collar crime and EU subsidy fraud, and leant on his record when he ran for the post six years ago.
Ritter is followed by Austria’s Ingrid Maschl-Clausen, also an EPPO prosecutor with experience at the alpine country’s Permanent Representation to the EU and at Eurojust, which helps foster cooperation between the bloc’s law enforcement agencies from an office in The Hague.
The third candidate is Italy’s Stefano Castellani, who already serves as a delegated prosecutor for the EPPO in Turin, followed by Spain’s Emilio Jesús Sánchez Ulled, the top prosecutor for crimes against the public administration in Madrid.
All four candidates were interviewed in September by top legal experts from across Europe as part of a confidential process, followed by a deliberation on the ranking. The shortlist, already shared with candidates, now has to be sent to both the Council of the EU and the European Parliament, which must jointly agree on a final candidate to replace Kövesi, who has to step down after six years in post.
Change at the top of the EPPO is expected in October 2026 and comes as the EU considers reshaping its anti-fraud architecture, a move that could grant EPPO expanded powers to investigate and protect the bloc’s next multiannual budget.
The final selection process is expected to involve political negotiation, and intense scrutiny of the experience and independence of the four listed candidates – as was the case six years ago when Kövesi was grilled by MEPs on officials she convicted while working in her native Romania.
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Kövesi’s six-year term, which began in 2019, saw the EPPO take on several high-profile investigations — including cases tied to top Greek ministers, EU vaccine procurement negotiations, the European People’s Party, and alleged misuse of EU funds by MEPs.
The EPPO declined to comment.
Inés Fernández–Pontes contributed reporting from Madrid.
(jp)