The European
\nCommission released a report on the rule of law in the EU member states on
\nTuesday. The independence of the judiciary, freedom of the press or the fight
\nagainst corruption are scrutinized in this annual report, which has reached its
\nsecond edition. The report contains specific remarks for most of the 27 members
\nof the European Union, but systemic issues concern mainly Hungary and Poland,
\nthe European Commissioner for Justice, Didier Reynders has stated.<\/p>\n
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The two countries,
\nwhich are criticized with regard to the independence of the judiciary and freedom of
\nthe press, are joined by Slovenia, which has also been singled out for the
\ndeterioration of media freedom. In fact, the situation of the press is a major
\nconcern, as many states of the Union report an increase in violence towards
\njournalists, said the Vice President of the European Commission, Vera Jourova.
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As regards Romania, the report refers, for the most part, to the reforms of the Judiciary.
\nIt is noted that steps are being taken to review the changes – severely
\ncriticized – brought to the legislation in the period 2017-2019 and concerns
\nare raised about the existence of the Special Section for the investigation of
\ncrimes committed by magistrates. The initiative
\nto abolish this Section must follow the line of European law, the Commission
\nsays. Recalling a decision by the Romanian Constitutional Court, which has
\nrecently ruled that the national
\nfundamental law is hierarchically superior when judges must refer to European
\nlaw, the European Commission says that it’s quite the opposite; this calls into
\nquestion the principle of the supremacy of EU legislation. According to Vera
\nJourova, European legislation takes precedence over national ones and all the
\nrulings of the European Court of Justice are binding on the authorities and
\ncourts in the member countries. <\/p>\n
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The Commission’s
\nreport also notes, among other things, that the shortage of staff remains
\nworrying in the Romanian judiciary. In December 2020, almost 10% of the posts of judge and almost 16% of prosecutor were vacant, which has an impact on the
\nefficiency of the system. Then, although the 2018 provision allowing for the
\nearly retirement of magistrates with 20 years of seniority was repealed by Parliament
\nin March this year, nearly 300 magistrates retired in 2020 and almost 250 in
\nthe first quarter of this year, amplifying even more the shortage of staff.
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On the subject
\nof ‘corruption’, the Commission notes that the perception among experts and
\nbusiness leaders is that the level of this scourge in the public sector remains
\nhigh, but – the EU executive says – investigations and sanctions for corruption
\nat medium and high level have remained effective. Finally, the European
\nCommission states that defamation lawsuits against investigative journalists
\ncontinue to be reported in Romania. (MI)<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The independence and the quality of the judiciary, the fight against corruption and freedom of the press are analyzed in the second anual report of the EC on the rule of law in the European Union<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":109,"featured_media":78355,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37738],"tags":[40314,28950,29487,40315,32354,40305],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-89534","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-today-in-the-news","tag-commissioner-vera-jourova","tag-corruption","tag-ec","tag-freedom-of-the-press","tag-rule-of-law","tag-the-judiciary"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n