The visit to Athens was expected to be tense. The head of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO), Laura Kovesi, was coming to Greece at a time when the institution she represents has found itself at the center of political controversy. She, as well as her Greek counterparts working at the EPPO’s office in Athens, who are investigating the country’s massive scandal involving hundreds of millions of euros of EU farm funds, have been targeted by government officials for their handling of the case.

However, both her presence at the Delphi Economic Forum and the atmosphere in her one-on-one meeting with Greek Justice Minister Giorgos Floridis were not affected by the “shots fired” by ministers and lawmakers of the ruling conservatives. After all, the meeting with Floridis had been scheduled at the initiative of Kovesi, prior to sending of the case files to Parliament.

“Some promises have been made. We came to see what the situation is,” the top prosecutor said meaningfully, upon entering the Ministry of Justice. Just a month earlier the Ministry of Justice had given the green light to the reinforcement of the Greek office of the EPPO, to which three additional, full-time and exclusive prosecutors will be added, bringing the total number to 13.

This was a positive response to Kovesi’s request, which had been submitted to Floridis in a meeting in October. Currently, in addition to European Prosecutor of Greece Nikos Paschalis, who serves in Luxembourg, the Greek office consists of 10 European Delegated Prosecutors (EDPs) from all three levels of the justice system. The head of the EDP’s office in Athens is Deputy Prosecutor of the Supreme Cour Eleni Karkampouna, while the other 10 are the prosecutors of the Courts of Appeals, Eugenia Kyvelou, Eleni Siskou, Kalliopi Dayanta and the prosecutors of the Courts of First Instance, Popi Papandreou, Chariklia Thanou, Dionysis Mouzakis, Antonia Georgiou, Thomai Emmanouilidou and Stavroula Dousi.

This number will increase by three positions, which the Supreme Court has reportedly decided will be filled by two prosecutors of the Court of First Instance and one of the Court of Appeals. The number of prosecutors in Greece is the highest per population among the countries of the eurozone. For example, Spain with a population of almost 50 million, has seven prosecutors, as does France with 68 million people. Sweden and Portugal, which have the same population as Greece, have two and seven prosecutors, respectively. On the other hand, Italy, with 60 million people, has 21 prosecutors.

The timeline of the clash

The renewal of the term of office of three of the appointed EU prosecutors was the point of contention, with Health Minister Adonis Georgiadis directly accusing prosecutor Popi Papandreou, who was managing the OPEKEPE case files together with Dionysis Mouzakis, of sending the files to Parliament to secure the renewal of her term of office at the EPPO. PASOK slammed the minister’s comments while the Association of Judges and Prosecutors issued statements of support for Papandreou.

The spark that lit the fuse was the announcement of the decision by the College of the EU Public Prosecutor’s Office in November 2025 to renew the terms of prosecutors Papandreou, Mouzakis and Thanou, without seeking a prior recommendation from Greece’s Supreme Judicial Council.

“After five years, according to the regulation, if the prosecutor already serving at the EPPO has done an excellent job, the college renews his term. We renewed the term of office of two Greek prosecutors, along with more than 100 European Delegated Prosecutors in 22 other member-states,” explained Kovesi during her presence at the Delphi Forum.

Justice Minister Floridis was quick to state that the institutional procedure requires the submission of a request to the Supreme Judicial Council, which is the only competent body for making such a decision. “The Supreme Judicial Council has been operating for 117 years, that is, since 1909. The Constitution stipulates that the Supreme Judicial Council be consulted. A judicial officer cannot be transferred, promoted, or seconded to a position unless the council decides so,” he said.

A source told Kathimerini that Kovesi “changed tack” and proceeded to submit a request shortly before the deadline expired, requesting the renewal of the term of office of the three prosecutors already serving in the institution. “She herself requested the renewal of their term. If she did not recognize the competence of the council, why would she do it? Also, the three interested parties applied [for the renewal], so they also recognize its competence,” Floridis said. The head of the EPPO said an “administrative step” remained in the process.

“In Greece, due to the way the EPPO law was adopted, there is an administrative step: these prosecutors must be seconded again to continue their work. It is logical for me to send a letter to inform [the council] about our decision. I ask them to complete the procedures to finalize the decision,” Kovesi clarified.

In the meantime, the Supreme Court Prosecutor’s Office has proceeded to announce three positions at the Greek EPPO office for which – according to information – nine applications have been submitted, including the three prosecutors currently serving in the respective positions. These are sought-after posts, since the salary is almost three times higher than the one they would otherwise receive in Greece, they demand exclusive employment and there are no transfers to other cities. The Supreme Judicial Council is expected to meet on the issue in mid-May, but the final say on filling the positions lies with the EPPO. Next year, the three additional positions will be announced at the EPPO.

Who decides?

“The Supreme Judicial Council has the first say, but the European Public Prosecutor’s Office has the last,” a judicial source told Kathimerini, pointing to what happened in 2021 during the appointment of the first seven then-designated European prosecutors to the newly established institution.

In May 2021, during the creation of the EPPO, the Supreme Judicial Council proceeded to select seven Greek prosecutors. These were Maria Mallouhou, Nikolaos Ornerakis, Popi Papandreou, Chariklia Thanou, Dionysis Mouzakis, as well as Odysseas Tsorbatzoglou and Amalia Bakaloni. The decision was unanimous (11-0) and marked the beginning of a new era in European criminal cooperation.

However, soon after, the balance was upset when Kovesi approved five of the seven candidates, excluding Tsorbatzoglou and Bakaloni, for whom she requested additional evidence of their practical experience. The requirement was legitimate, but it left a shadow of doubt hanging over the Greek judiciary’s judgement.

In June 2021, the two prosecutors were invited to an oral interview to provide more information. They accepted, not without reservations, with Tzorbatzoglou stating in a letter to the EPPO that “despite the fact that I consider my experience self-evident … I inform you that I accept the proposed interview, during which I will be happy to meet you and your colleagues.” In September 2021, their candidacies were rejected, on the grounds that they did not meet the eligibility criteria.

Greece, of course, is not the only country whose candidates have been rejected. A problem had arisen in Italy, when the EPPO rejected prosecutor Carmela Giuffrida for a similar position, on the grounds that she “did not demonstrate that she has sufficient relevant practical experience in the investigation, prosecution and referral of persons responsible for criminal offenses affecting the financial interests of the Union or in general for financial crimes.” The candidate turned to the European Union’s General Court against the EPPO’s decision and was vindicated.

The EPPO has also repeatedly rejected candidates proposed by Bulgaria, while in 2021 there were problems in Slovenia, with reports claiming the government was “undermining the newly established European institution” when the country’s then prime minister Janez Jansa did not nominate his country’s two candidates.

‘Let them appeal’

What the Supreme Judicial Council will ultimately decide when it meets – which is expected to be from May 11 to 15 – is anyone’s guess. During the press conference she gave in Athens, Kovesi did not even want to comment on the possibility that the council would not agree with the renewal of the three Greek prosecutors’ terms.

“I fully trust that the council will make the right decision. They are independent, just like us. Who has an interest in removing these prosecutors, when they have done an excellent job?” she said, adding that if anyone believes that the EPPO has made the wrong choice, they should turn to the Court of Justice of the European Union.