Romania’s public administration, between reforms and corruption

Torn by corruption scandals and arrests, Romanias public administration is in need of thorough-going reforms.

Bogdan Matei, 12.04.2016, 14:13

Another political scandal transpired publicly on Monday, when the National Liberal Party vice-president and candidate in the race for Bucharest Mayor, Ludovic Orban, withdrew his candidacy and renounced his party offices, after being placed under judicial control in a new corruption case. Anti-corruption prosecutors claim Orban last month demanded 50,000 euros from a businessman linked with decision-makers in two television stations in exchange for the media advertising of his campaign. Known for his verbose speeches and public charisma, Ludovic Orban’s run in top-level politics has been quite long, started out from the very first days after the collapse of the communist regime. Ludovic Orban firmly dismissed all accusations, claiming that by the afore-mentioned decision, he was only protecting his party, right now the most powerful rightwing party.

Ludovic Orban: “I have collected no undue benefits. But since criminal proceedings have been launched in my name, I hereby withdraw my candidacy. I don’t want to undermine the chances of the National Liberal Party winning the elections in the race for the Bucharest City Hall due to speculations linked to alleged acts of corruption”.

Political pundits were not in the least taken aback by Ludovic Orban’s exit from politics, given the frequency of corruption cases reported in the local administration. Bucharest’s previous General Mayor Sorin Oprescu, as well as four of the capital’s six district mayors left their office in cuffs. Another tens of local officials and county council presidents or prefects are in turn in the center of corruption scandals. Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos says only a through-going reform of the administration could prevent further corruption scandals. The Prime Minister presented a draft law in this respect in Parliament on Monday.

Ciolos warned that economic growth remained a challenge unless Romania had a successful and reliable public administration: “If we don’t follow up the fight against corruption with a reform of the public administration, based on transparency and professional training, we risk seeing only more corruption cases. This is the very purpose of the public administration reform, to combat corruption and deal with its root causes”.

To increase the performance of the administration and have a highly-skilled personnel, the Government wants to reopen the National Administration Institute, to introduce a nation-wide competition-based admission system for hiring administrative staff as well as matching income with individual effectiveness. After two months of public debate, the Government will submit this draft law to Parliament. The law might be passed before the summer recess.