Luxembourg: The European Chief Prosecutor changes on 1 November 2026, when German prosecutor Andrés Ritter takes over the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) from Laura Codruța Kövesi, whose non-renewable seven-year term ends on 31 October. The handover comes after the European Commission published its first formal evaluation of the office.
The Commission describes the EPPO as “highly efficient and effective”, especially in cross-border investigations, according to an Informat report on the evaluation. The office started work on 1 June 2021. Active cases rose from 515 in 2021 to 3,602 at the end of 2025.
Those numbers amount to sevenfold growth in caseload in four and a half years. The EPPO investigates fraud against the EU budget, including misuse of EU funds, and its work links closely to national courts. Prosecutors in the 22 participating states handle the cases locally, while the central office in Luxembourg coordinates them.
Frozen assets grew in step. The value rose from €147.3 million to €1.13 billion over the same period. The report also backs Kövesi’s earlier warnings about heavy workloads, too few resources and uneven application of the regulation across the 22 participating states.
Kövesi was appointed in October 2019 and became the first person to hold the post. She has led the office since its launch on 1 June 2021 and repeatedly warned that its workload outgrew its resources. Her departure closes the founding chapter of an institution that now operates in 22 EU countries.
The incoming European Chief Prosecutor knows the house well. He has served as one of two deputy European chief prosecutors since November 2020, and he was Germany’s first European Prosecutor. According to eucrim, he joined the German prosecution service in 1995 and later led the economic crime and cybercrime prosecution office in Rostock.
The selection of the European Chief Prosecutor ran for months. A panel shortlisted four candidates from 17 applications, and MEPs questioned them on 3 December 2025. The Civil Liberties Committee endorsed Ritter on 23 February 2026 by 52 votes to 10 with 6 abstentions, and Parliament approved him on 10 March after the Council agreed.
Ritter has signalled his priorities. He stressed cooperation with national authorities, Europol, OLAF, Eurojust and the new anti-money laundering authority, and he highlighted asset confiscation. On widening the EPPO’s remit, he said it is “up to the legislator to decide whether the EPPO model should be extended to cover additional crimes”.
The law sets a high bar for the European Chief Prosecutor. Under Article 14(2) of the EPPO Regulation, candidates must be serving prosecutors or judges, or serving European Prosecutors, and they must show unquestionable independence. They also need experience in financial crime, international judicial cooperation and management, which explains why the pool of eligible names stays small.
The Commission has its own to-do list. It wants clearer evidence of convictions and better recovery of funds, and it is preparing a review of the EU anti-fraud architecture, including cooperation among the EPPO, OLAF, Europol and Eurojust. The new European Chief Prosecutor will therefore start with a crowded agenda and a caseload far larger than the office had at its launch.
