Romania has stepped back from the edge, says Barroso

The President of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, said on Wednesday,following the adoption of the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism (CVM) reports that Romania has stepped back form the edge, but hasn’t reached the end of the process and called for PM Ponta to implement the report’s recommendations on modernizing the judicial system and fighting corruption.

The president said that the “exceptional” events in Romania over the last three weeks have been a major source of concern for the Commission and the EU.

“Events in Romania have shaken our trust. Challenging judicial decisions, undermining the constitutional court, overturning established procedures and removing key checks and balances have called into question the Government’s commitment to respect the rule of law,” said Barroso.

Barroso has asked for a further report to be prepared on Romania by year end in order to see if the concerns regarding the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary have been solved.

“Over 90 percent of Romanians see shortcomings in the judicial system and corruption as major problems,” said the EC President.

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Political scandal hinders judiciary progress

The CVM report states that institutions like the National Anti-Corruption Directorate (DNA) and the National Integrity Agency (ANI) reported a “convincing” track record in pursuing high-level corruption and created the basis for the modernization of the judicial system. Although the reports said that Romania has made progress since 2007, the benchmarks of the CVM have not been fulfilled and the reform is still not sustainable nor irreversible.

“I consider this report to be balanced, a report based on which Romania has to continue the effort of ensuring an independent and efficient judiciary, to continue the good things mentioned by the EC and to tackle the structural deficiencies and the long lasting ones, as well as the observations received as a result of the political crisis in the last few weeks,” said PM Ponta.

Justice Minister Titus Corlatean said the report is objective and reflects the course of the justice system since 2007, when Romania became an EU member.

The Commission has sent PM Ponta a series of urgent recommendations on reassuring the EU that the rule of law and independence of the judiciary is respected in Romania. Romania’s PM committed in a letter to President Barroso on July 17 to address issues on the rule of law.

This includes the repeal of the government ordinances regarding the powers of the Constitutional Court and of the Romanian Constitution and the appointments for key positions including the Ombudsman, the General Prosecutor of Romania and the Chief Prosecutor of the DNA.

Ovidiu Posirca