April 3, 2019 UPDATE

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Newsroom, 03.04.2019, 20:37

STATEMENT Romania must urgently return to the reform
process, which means steps forward and not backward, and refrain from any
measure that could lead to regress, the First Vice-President of the European
Commission, Frans Timmermans, told a news conference in Brussels in the
aftermath of the College of Commissioners. Recently the European Commission has
repeatedly announced its concern regarding the latest developments in the
process of implementing the rule of law in Romania. According to the community
executive, both the content and the procedures of the latest changes in the
process of implementing the rule of law by means of emergency decrees without talks
with justice representatives and those directly interested seem to run counter
the recommendations within the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism. Prime
Minister Viorica Dancila on Wednesday said she was surprised by Timmermans’ statement through which he cautioned the Romanian government not to take any
action that affects the judiciary and announced her intention to have talks
with the EU official. According to the Romanian Minster of Justice, Tudorel
Toader, the process of endorsing justice laws in Romania does not need approval
from the European Commission. Opposition parties in Romania consider the
European Commission’s latest cautioning on the situation of the country’s legal
system as ‘the toughest reaction in the past two years.’

RULING The Court of Cassation and
Justice in Romania on Wednesday ruled to lift the measure of judicial control
in the case of the former head of Romania’s main Anti-corruption Agency (DNA),
Laura Codruta Kovesi. The measure was taken a week ago by the prosecutors of the
Department for Investigating Offences in Justice in a file where Kovesi had
been accused of abuse of office, bribery and false testimony. The court’s
ruling in the case involving Kovesi is definitive. Also on Wednesday, the
European Commission and European Parliament reiterated their support for
Kovesi, who is running for the position of European Chief Prosecutor,
underlining that it is important for the former DNA head to be able to submit
her candidature in Brussels. Kovesi enjoys support from the Community
Legislature for this position.

CALL Embassies of 12 states, Romania’s
international allies and partners, have called on the government in Bucharest
in a joint statement to refrain from amendments that might weaken the rule of
law and Romania’s ability to fight corruption and crime. The signatories,
Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Norway,
the Netherlands, the USA and Sweden, have voiced their deep concern about the
integrity of Romania’s legal system, which has been shaken by unpredictable changes,
which do not boost Romania’s efforts to consolidate progress in terms of
justice. The ambassadors of the 12 states have added that the emergency decrees
could impact on the independence of the judiciary, which would undermine the
Romanians’ and partners’ trust in the justice system and in Romania’s
government as well. In the opinion of the partner countries, it is essential
that Romania take into account recommendations coming from the Council of
Europe’s bodies such as the Venice Commission and GRECO as well as from the
European Parliament the EU Council, from the European Commission’s latest
report within the Mechanism of Cooperation and Verification to be able to ensure
an efficient, transparent and impartial justice.

(translated by
bill)