The conclusions of the latest CVM report

After the publication of a new CVM report, Bucharest reaffirms its committment to carrying on the justice reform and fixing the changes made between 2017 - 2019

Roxana Vasile, 09.06.2021, 14:00

The European Commission notes a positive trend in the reform of the judiciary and in the fight against corruption in Romania, but announces that it will continue to closely monitor the evolution of the situation until all objectives are met. The Commission published on Tuesday the report on the progress made by the Bucharest authorities under the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism established since Romania’s accession to the EU in 2007, and whose purpose is precisely to signal possible failures and to propose remedies for the justice system.

However, the Commission welcomes the fact that, this year, a new impetus was given in terms of reforming and correcting the transgressions that marked the period 2017-2019. As a result, the Community Executive says, progress has been made on all the CVM recommendations that have not yet been implemented, and many of them are close to being met if progress remains constant. In the vision of the European Commission, Romania must work on seven recommendations from 2018 and ten recommendations from 2017. The appointment early last year of the country’s attorney general and head of DIICOT, despite the negative opinion of the Superior Council of Magistracy, is criticized by the Commission.

The SCM gets a black ball too, among other things, for its ambiguous position on the shutting down of the Special department for investigating offences committed by the judiciary, the existence and functioning of which are considered to be of concern in Brussels. On the very day when the new MCV report of the European Commission was published, in Bucharest, the Constitutional Court upheld, however, its decision according to which this special department for magistrates is constitutional and can only be abolished by Parliament, through a new law. The Minister of Justice, Stelian Ion, promised to find solutions:

We cannot expect the Court of Justice of the European Union to resolve our internal problems. We have been given all the freedom to do it. Also, we cannot expect the judiciary to solve these problems alone. Therefore, it is very important, as politicians, to find the solution for the rapid abolition of this Special department for investigating offences committed by the judiciary and I still consider that the Government project is the correct one, so I will try to convince my parliamentary colleagues to go for this solution. It is very important that we succeed in shutting down this department, which has been often criticized, including in this report.

With regard to the fight against corruption, the European Commission stresses that the appointment of a new head of the National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA) has led to institutional stability. The situation has improved compared to 2019, but the Directorate faces a number of challenges, one of which is the staff shortage, the Commission also says. (MI)