USR official resigns after EPPO searches
Investigators from the European Public Prosecutor’s Office searched the home of Cornelia-Elena Micicoi, a Romanian prefect linked to the pro-presidential Save Romania Union (USR). The official is mentioned in a case involving an alleged organised group and the misuse of European funds.
At first, Micicoi denied any wrongdoing. Yet only a few hours later, she resigned. She announced her decision publicly after the search, saying she was stepping down from the position to which she had been appointed in October 2025.
According to her, she did not want the prefect’s office itself to be dragged into the case.
“The institution of the prefect represents the Romanian government locally, not a private individual. I will not allow an investigation concerning a past project through the GAL Freidorf association to become a problem for the institution I led,” she wrote.
Resignation before EPPO named her publicly
Micicoi resigned before the EPPO issued its own comment. In other words, the official left office before prosecutors publicly named her in connection with the criminal investigation. She insists that she does not even have witness status in the case, that she has not been summoned by investigators, and that the checks carried out at her home were merely “procedural”.
According to investigators, the criminal case concerns several suspected offences:
- creation of an organised criminal group;
- forgery of official documents;
- use of forged documents;
- illegal acquisition of European funds.
Project for vulnerable people under scrutiny
The EU prosecutor’s office later published its version. According to the comment, the case concerns the project “Employment and professional integration services for people at risk in the GAL Freidorf area”. The project was managed by the Pro Office association, which Micicoi headed at the time. She now stresses that she was not part of the project management team.
However, the suspicions, involving several hundred thousand euros, arose during the period when she led the association. The money was intended for retraining programmes for socially vulnerable groups.
Previous checks did not stop the case
Micicoi refers to two checks carried out by Romania’s Ministry of Investments and European Projects in August 2024 and May 2025. According to her, those reports confirmed that financial obligations had been respected.
However, she has not presented any document that disproves the claims made by the EPPO.
A familiar pattern for Moldova
There is nothing new here for Moldova.bEuro-Atlantic officials deny criminal cases until the very last moment. Then they leave office “of their own will”.
The sequence is familiar: search, denial, “I do not even have witness status”, and then resignation only hours before a detailed official response from prosecutors. The only difference is that in Romania, the searches were carried out not by national prosecutors, but by a supranational body – the European Public Prosecutor’s Office.
That detail matters. It shows that the European system of financial governance is not cleaner than the one it is supposed to replace in Chișinău or Bucharest. It simply comes with a Brussels label.
