Greece's Supreme Court rejects Kovesi mandate appeal

On 24 June, Greece's judiciary made two decisions that pull in opposite directions. The Supreme Judicial Council (the body that appoints senior prosecutors and judges) unanimously named three new prosecutors to reinforce the Greek branch of EPPO, the EU's independent office for prosecuting crimes against the European budget. Hours earlier, a different body, the Supreme Court (Greece's highest appeals court), rejected by 72 to 10 a challenge by EPPO Chief Prosecutor Laura Kovesi over how long three existing prosecutors can serve (gr.euronews, News247). Athens gave EPPO more hands. It also told Kovesi she cannot decide how long those hands stay.

Why the Hybrid Design Matters

EPPO's founding regulation (Regulation 2017/1939) created an unusual institution. Strategy and case direction come from Luxembourg. Investigations, arrests, seizures and trials run through national courts, national police and national prosecutors. EPPO can open a case in any of its 24 participating member states, but it cannot prosecute without local people in local courtrooms. When a member state controls how long those prosecutors serve, it controls how stable EPPO's local team can be.

The three new appointees, Dimitris Zimianitis, Dimitris Nomikos and Dimitris Apostolas, bring Greece's EPPO team from 10 to 13 European Delegated Prosecutors, the local prosecutors who handle EU-funds cases before Greek courts (Newsit, Newsbomb). Kovesi had asked for reinforcements, citing a heavy caseload. The government agreed. The appointments were unanimous.

The tenure dispute is a separate fight with sharper edges. Earlier this year, EPPO's College (the body of all European prosecutors that governs the office from Luxembourg) renewed the mandates of three serving Greek prosecutors for five years. Greece's Supreme Judicial Council overrode that decision and granted only two (To Vima). Kovesi appealed. The Supreme Court threw it out on procedural grounds: under Greek law, only the prosecutors themselves can challenge their service conditions, not EPPO on their behalf (Lifo). The court said Kovesi was not the right person to bring the case.

Two-year mandates raise a practical question. Complex fraud investigations can take years to build and bring to trial. If prosecutors rotate out before their cases finish, continuity suffers.

The Same Mechanism, Tested in Prague

Greece is not unique. Across the EU, EPPO's reach depends on whether national systems give it enough people to run cases or quietly limit its presence.

Czechia offers a clean example of the same dependency. On 22 June, EPPO's Prague office filed charges against two individuals and a company linked to Agrofert, the conglomerate tied to former Prime Minister Andrej Babiš, over an alleged €4.1 million EU-funds fraud (EPPO, ČT24). Agrofert maintains it acted lawfully. EPPO built the file, but the charges go before a Czech regional court, under Czech procedure, with Czech judges deciding the outcome. The EU prosecutor opens the door. The national system decides whether anyone walks through it.

What Remains Open

The European Commission says it "fully supports" EPPO, according to Greek outlet Capital, which reported the statement in the context of the mandate dispute (Capital). That language matters because the Commission had already been examining Greek concerns over EPPO independence since May, when Kovesi flagged the mandate dispute to Brussels.

Greece's two decisions on 24 June captured both sides of the tension between EU enforcement ambition and national legal control. Adding three prosecutors is a real increase in capacity. Rejecting Kovesi's appeal preserves Athens's authority over how long those prosecutors serve. Whether the new appointees receive case assignments that test their independence, and whether two-year mandates give them enough time to see complex fraud cases through to trial, are questions the record does not show yet. EPPO publishes no country-by-country staffing data that would allow outsiders to compare how different member states resource the office (EPPO).

The reinforcement is real. So is the leash.