The Chief European Prosecutor Laura Kövesi is visiting Croatia. On Monday she met with Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic and on Tuesday morning she had a meeting with State Attorney-General Ivan Turudic.

The meeting with the Prime Minister on Monday was also attended by European Public Prosecutor Tamara Laptos, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior Davor Bozinovic, Minister of Justice, Administration and Digital Transformation Damir Habijan and State Secretary at the Ministry of Finance Tereza Rogic-Lugaric.

After the meeting with Turudic, Kövesi explained that the last time she was in Zagreb was two years ago and recalled the meeting with the Prime Minister on Monday.

“There is no such thing as a clean country”

“The EPPO office in Zagreb is one of our best offices. We have excellent prosecutors here and Croatia can be proud of what they do,” Kövesi said, adding that this would not be possible without the support of the authorities.

“There is no such thing as a clean country. It is very important to dispel the toxic narrative that a country has a credibility problem when the EPPO is investigating a country for possible fraud. This is simply not true,” said Kövesi, adding that this only means that the system is working. At least that is the case in Croatia, Kövesi said, where “things are not swept under the carpet.”

She also emphasised that the cornerstone of the rule of law is the presumption of innocence and that the prescribed procedures must be followed.

Kövesi also pointed out that it is crucial to ensure that European prosecutors have direct access to databases.