| THE 2009 REPORT ON CORRUPTION, ISSUED BY TRANSPARENCY INTERNATIONAL ROMANIA 07/10/2009 |
| Last updated: 2009-10-08 14:52 EET |
The report, which looks at the period between June 2008 and September 2009, unveils a dramatic deterioration of public integrity, marked by a lack of strategic co-ordination in terms of legislative and institutional measures. Victor Alistar, executive director of Transparency International Romania, believes there are two reasons for this situation:
“On the one hand, the European Union has eased pressure on the Bucharest authorities and on the other hand, such moves have preceded election periods, for example the parliamentary elections last year, or the presidential elections this year. That's why the main actors in the political scene have fought over resources, and that has reflected in the way in which the system itself has evolved. For this reason, the most severe regression and the most critical weaknesses can be found in the manner public funds are spent.''
The public procurement system has been changed five times this year alone, and the outcome is a decrease in the safety standards of public fund management. Moreover, in the institutional field, the operational independence of the Anti-Fraud Department has been annulled and its staff politicised, though its attribution is to protect European funds against fraud and corruption. Another element that affects the national integrity system is the politicising of public positions. Each time a government has changed, top civil servants were replaced, the report shows. An example in this respect is that, although prefect offices have been redefined as important, stable civil positions, with a well-defined career plan, all the prefects appointed in 2007 have been replaced on political criteria. The National Report on Corruption also shows that the Civil and Criminal Codes have been revised in an authoritarian and non-transparent manner; according to Victor Alistar, society’s contribution to the redefining of the country's legal structure has been overlooked:
''We have pointed out that these Codes are likely to lead to amnesty in disguise, by having the definition of crime modified in the code's general provisions, although the specific provisions of the code do not bring major changes in the definitions of criminal offences. Moreover, the definitions of corruption misdeeds are less comprehensive than in the current code, which is not good. Transparency principles have been breached, and so have the right to information and to public participation. ''
Nevertheless, progress has been made as far as anti-corruption agencies are concerned. The National Anti-Corruption Department has managed to counter the media's excessive focus on the political aspects of investigations under way, and to fight the accusations of being a politicised legal instrument. The national anti-corruption department has furthered investigations into high level corruption, but has failed to reach notable results in terms of convictions. As far as the National Integrity Agency (ANI) is concerned, the report notes that its administrative capacity has been consolidated. A negative element however, is that over 80% of the administrative sanctions imposed by ANI and challenged in Court, have been declared null and void by judges. This happens because the judicial-administrative procedures continue to be classified, which comes against the European Convention on Human Rights. The National Integrity Council has also failed to carry through some of its tasks, the report also shows. As far as the separation of powers is concerned, as many as 4 constitutional conflicts ended up in Court, while concerns over democratic standards have been voiced throughout 2009. Victor Alistar:
''Parliament has strengthened its authority over Government through its special inquiry commissions, rather than through constant monitoring of public policies by the standing expert committees. It failed however, to carry out its main task, entailed by its role as the country's main legislative body. In the past six months alone, the government has issued five regulations in matters of organic law, and resorted five times to an exceptional procedure – that of confidence voting. At the same time, over 90% of the normative acts passed by Parliament were in fact emergency ordinances issued by the Government.''
The National Report on Corruption is drawn up every year and analyses, in a critical manner, the most important legislative, institutional and public policy developments. Transparency International's 2009 Global Corruption Report has been recently released in New York.
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2010-09-10
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