The European Commission monitoring report on Romania

The European Commission says Romania has made progress in reforming its judiciary, but is still concerned about the systems independence.

Roxana Vasile, 23.01.2014, 13:30

In 2007, when it joined the European Union, Romania was still trying to solve some problems regarding the reform of the judiciary and the eradication of corruption. In order to help it resolve those issues, the European Commission decided to set up a Cooperation and Verification Mechanism that would help assess the country’s judiciary on a regular basis.

In Bucharest, each report has been received with interest, being often used as an opportunity by the ruling power to highlight the positive aspects, and by the opposition to give harsh criticism. This year’s assessment was ever more eagerly expected than the previous ones, given that some EU Member Countries still cite these reports to justify their reluctance to giving Romania the green light for its Schengen accession.

According to the first report published this year, Romania has made progress in many fields, and the actions taken in the field of the judiciary, both with regard to the activity of the key institutions and the integrity of the system, are mainly positive, despite at times difficult circumstances. The European Commission is happy with the fact that long awaited and necessary legislative changes have been made, and the collaboration between judicial bodies and the Ministry of Justice has helped solve management issues. Also, the Commission gives recommendations, with a focus on the independence and reform of the judiciary, integrity and fighting corruption.

Prime Minister Victor Ponta has called on the Justice Ministry to present, in a balanced and objective way, the things revealed in the European Commission report:

“The European Commission spokesperson said Romania has made substantial progress. From the Commission’s point of view, we are fully ready to join Schengen. The decision, however, is to be made by the member states and it will be a political one. All the things that are included in the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism report must be presented and explained in a balanced, professional manner, irrespective of political speculations.”

The social-democratic opposition, through former Justice Minister Catalin Predoiu, sees in this report more proof of the fact that the ruling social-liberal alliance has damaged the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary and the good things highlighted in the report are in fact the result of the measures taken by the previous liberal-democratic governments:

“The most important aspect highlighted by the report is that the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary is still the target of political pressure. The negative part of the report relates explicitly to the Social Liberal Union.”

The European Commission also highlights some concerns regarding the independence of the judiciary, and it does not explicitly characterise the report as either positive or negative. The report should be understood as it was written: progress has been made in several fields and there are still steps to be taken in other fields. Making Romania’s Schengen accession conditional on the report is artificial, say the Bucharest authorities. The two are in fact two different issues, and Schengen accession should not be related to the reports on the judiciary. On the other hand, the assessment on the basis of which Romania is to join Schengen should look exclusively at the technical conditions, which Romania fully meets.