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Frans Timmermans: I didn’t know Emergency Order on Justice Law would be adopted
Frans Timmermans, the EC first vicepresident declared in Brussels, on Tuesday, that he did not know a new emergency order would be adopted for the amendment of justice laws by the government headed by Viorica Dancila.
“Before making comments I must see about the emergency order. I did not know it would be adopted, I will consider it as soon as I get back to my office,” Timmerman said, when asked how he considered that the Dancila government had adopted a new emergency order amending the laws of justice, following the meeting of the General Affairs Council (CAG).
On the other hand, he said that the EU executive remains committed to the objective of lifting the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism (CVM) for Romania by the end of the current European Commission's term, but if Bucharest has the ambition to do the same thing, there is a long way to go, and there are many steps to be taken.
'As far as Romania is concerned, we have a very good tool, a dialogue platform that allows us to address all these issues. This has to do with the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism. It is an ample tool that allows us to deal with all these issues and which we always use to discuss this in a constructive manner with the Romanian government. I remain committed to having this discussion. As you know, we have expressed some fears in our latest report [within the CVM, ed.n] related to the fact that there has been no progress, but even regress in some areas, but both President Juncker and I are extremely committed to trying to accomplish what President Juncker said at the beginning of the term to try to conclude this CVM procedure by the end of this Commission's term. But if Romania has the ambition to do the same, there is a long way to go, and there are many steps to take. The recommendations made by the Commission in the CVM are very clear and I am always at the disposal of the Romanian authorities to discuss their implementation', Timmermans told a joint press conference with Minister-delegate for European Affairs George Ciamba after the end of the General Affairs Council.
In a report published on November 13, 2018 the European Commission recommended Romania to suspend as soon as possible the enforcement of the Justice laws and subsequent emergency ordinances and to revise them by fully taking into account the CVM recommendations as well as those formulated by the Venice Commission and the Council of Europe Group of States Against Corruption (GRECO).
(Photo source:consilium.europa.eu)