European report on Romania’s judiciary
The European Commission remains deeply concerned with the functioning of Romanias judiciary.
Bogdan Matei, 16.11.2017, 13:49
The Cooperation and Verification Mechanism (CVM) was introduced in 2007, the year of Romania’s and Bulgaria’s EU accession, and is monitoring the two countries’ progress in reforming their judiciary and fighting corruption. Unsure about the will and capacity of post-communist authorities in Bucharest and Sofia to implement Western best practices in Southeastern Europe, Brussels is today just as concerned about the two countries’ efforts to reform their justice systems, combat corruption and organized crime, as it was 10 years ago. In their periodic reports, Commission experts are looking at developments in these sectors, hailing progress and signaling shortcomings.
The European Commission’s latest CVM report released on Wednesday was quick to spark contrasting reactions in Bucharest. The document praises the latest progress reported in such fields as investigating conflicts of interest in public procurement, while at the same time stating that reform momentum was overall lost in 2017. This slowed down the fulfillment of the 12 remaining recommendations the Commission set for Romania. Experts actually believe Romania now runs the risk of re-opening issues which the January 2017 report had considered as fulfilled. Challenges to and questioning judicial independence in Romania have also been a persistent source of concern, the document also reads.
The Romanian Government must pursue the necessary reforms and avoid backtracking, so as to achieve the goal of having the CVM lifted by the end of the Commission’s current tenure in 2018, First Vice-President of the European Commission, Frans Timmermans, has said. In turn, Romanias Justice Minister Tudorel Toader believes the report highlights significant progress, and that the country can fulfill its objective to have the CVM lifted over the coming year. The former Social-Democrat Justice Minister Florin Iordache, the acting Deputy Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, believes the report mentions both positive aspects and unresolved issues, and that the necessary actions can be taken so as to have the monitoring lifted.
MP Ioan Cupsa with the Liberal Party in opposition believes, however, that the current ruling coalition has failed yet another test as far as justice is concerned. The new leader of the Save Romania Union, Dan Barna, says the latest CVM report is negative and should be seen as irrefutable proof that the Social-Democrat power is interfering with justice. In turn, President Klaus Iohannis says the report represents a serious warning for the current ruling coalition to consider, adding that if the justice laws are to be adopted in the version backed by Parliament and Government, Romania will lose ground in the fight against corruption.
Some political pundits say the report’s critical tone is meant to condemn the current power’s repeated attempts at subordinating the justice field and its lack of appetite to combat corruption, which the media and part of civil society have also condemned throughout the entire year. The European Commission will make public its next report at the end of 2018.
