The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) refused to consider the appeal of the prosecutor Ana Carla Almeida who challenged the appointment of José Guerra as European prosecutor, the magistrate confirmed to Lusa, which ends the judicial process.
The newspaper Observador reported this Monday that the CJEU rejected the appeal of the prosecutor Ana Carla Almeida, after the decision of the first European instance that had dismissed the complaint based on a previous question about the deadlines in which it could have been presented.
The magistrate’s defense argued that the deadlines began to run from the moment she was notified by the letter from the Portuguese Government indicating that she had not been chosen for the position of European prosecutor, but the CJEU, as had happened with the decision of the General Court of Justice of the European Union, understood that the term begins with the publication of the appointment of the prosecutor José Guerra in the Official Journal of the European Union.
To Lusa, the prosecutor Ana Carla Almeida only confirmed that she was notified on Friday at the end of the day of the decision that ends the judicial process, without wanting to comment on it.
The decision leaves without appreciating the argument that motivated the complaint, in which the Portuguese prosecutor alleged an illegitimate interference by the Portuguese State in the election of José Guerra as European prosecutor.
The Portuguese magistrate José Guerra was appointed by the Government after being selected first by the Superior Council of the Public Ministry, but after a European committee of experts considered Ana Carla Almeida as the best candidate for the position.
Since then, the Government has been at the center of a controversy, mainly for having transmitted erroneous data in a note to the Council of the European Union attached to José Guerra’s curriculum, although the structure has corroborated the position of the Portuguese Executive that the ” expiry” related to the proposal to appoint the European fiscal magistrate did not interfere in the decision on his appointment.
In June, in an interview with Lusa about the first year of operation of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office, the European Public Prosecutor José Guerra admitted having lived through a “terribly difficult period” with the controversy surrounding his appointment to the European Public Prosecutor’s Office, but he guarantees that he will never he remained “weakened or conditioned” in office.
The prosecutor regretted at the time that his name was dragged between the last months of 2020 and the beginning of 2021 for “a discussion that was always placed on the political plane.”
Considering that it was “clear” that his name was used as a political weapon and that the experience was “deeply unpleasant” in personal terms, the European prosecutor categorically denied that his reputation had been tarnished by a controversy with which he considered himself alien. .
The Portuguese magistrate José Guerra was appointed on July 27, 2020 European national prosecutor in the European Public Prosecutor’s Office, an independent body with powers to investigate, instruct criminal proceedings and prosecute and support him in the investigation and prosecution of the perpetrators of criminal offences. detrimental to the financial interests of the Union (for example, fraud, corruption or cross-border VAT fraud in excess of €10 million).
The body that functions as an independent and highly specialized Public Ministry came into effect on June 1, 2021.
Source: TSF
