Laura Kovesi. Photo: jurnarul.ro

Laura Kovesi is to participate in a conference on Romania’s experience in fighting corruption on the invitation of the President of Bulgaria’s Supreme Court of Cassation, Lozan Panov, a spokesperson of the court told BIRN on Wednesday.

The spokesperson explained that the event on March 16 will be announced next Monday, although participants in the conference already leaked information about it to the specialized legal affairs websites, Legal World, on Tuesday.

Kovesi, nicknamed Romania’s “Mrs Justice” for her successful work as chief prosecutor of the National Anti-Corruption Directorate, DNA, is expected to brief Bulgarian magistrates about her experience in countering high-level graft.

News about Kovesi’s visit comes just two months after the highest self-regulatory body of the Bulgarian judicial system – the Supreme Judicial Council – on January 12 rejected a proposed invitation for her to Bulgaria filed by Judge Kalin Kalpakchiev.

Kalpakchiev visited Romania in November 2016 to exchange experiences with Romanian magistrates, with an idea for Romanian anti-corruption prosecutors to train their Bulgarian colleagues. The council scrapped that idea as well.

During a meeting of Bulgaria’s top magistrates, the Prosecutor-General, Sotir Tsatsarov, said that while Kovesi was chief of the DNA, she was not “the face” of Romania’s prosecution.

“Inviting her independently [of the Superior Council of Magistracy of Romania] would look a little bit strange,” Tstsarov added.

Later, on January 30, the chairman of the Supreme Judicial Council told Monitor newspaper that “in Romania itself the [anti-corruption] model is not convincing enough” and more work needs to be done before it becomes a role model for other countries.

The latest Cooperation and Verifications Mechanism report of the European Commission, published in January, said both Romania and Bulgaria need further monitoring until they meet all the requirements in terms of reforming justice, corruption and organized crime.

But while the EU experts said Romania was on the right track in countering high-level corruption, Bulgaria was failing to achieve progress “as fast as hoped for”.

The report was critical of the work of the State Prosecutor’s Office, noting “suspicions of undue influence and criticisms of a lack of overall accountability of the prosecution”.

In December 2015, Bulgaria’s parliament watered down long-awaited judicial reforms that aimed to make the judiciary more independent, and ensure the democratic accountability of the powerful Prosecutor-General.

The former parliament also rejected an anti-corruption bill that the EU had pushed for.

Many Bulgarians see Romania’s recent successes in the fight against corruption as an inspiration for their own country to do better.

At the height of Romania’s anti-corruption protests in February, some Bulgarians rallied in front of the Romanian embassy in Sofia to show solidarity with their northern neighbours.