Head of EC office in Romania: CVM report worse than previous one
Angela Cristea declared on Tuesday, that the CVM report is a drawback compared to the previous one, especially about ensuring the independence of justice.
“What do we see in this report? It is a drawback compared to the previous report especially about ensuring the independence of justice. At the same time, we remain deeply engaged in the project of closing down this Cooperation and Verification Mechanism, if possible during the mandate of this commission. These two countries are monitored each according to its merits. It is feasible from our point of view. It is important to have political will to guarantee the independence of justice and for the continuation of the fight against corruption. It is important for Romania’s citizens to see there are institutions which bring before the law any citizen believed to have infringed this law, regardless of his position of power,” Angela Cristea declared
Asked whether the CVM report represents Europe with two speeds, as people from PSD say, Cristea said she saw no connection between the two.
“I see no connection between Europe with two speeds and a mechanism with which, both Romania and Bulgaria agreed ever since their accession. They are different things: the future of Europe and various scenarios and this mechanism which we accepted in order to have the guarantee that justice is being done in Romania and Bulgaria, like in the other member states,” Cristea added.
The adoption of the laws and justice and pressures on the independence of the judicial system, especially about DNA, generated doubts about the irreversibility of progress recorded in Romania, the European Commission announces, recommending the suspension of procedures in the case of high rank prosecutors.
In the last 12 months, Romania took measures for the implementation of recommendations formulated by the European Commission in January 2017.
“However, the evaluation report of January 2017 was permanently conditioned by avoiding negative measures which can generate doubts on the progress registered in the last ten years. The coming into force of the laws of justice, pressures on the independence of justice in general, especially on DNA and other measures that affect fighting corruption have generated drawbacks or question marks about the irreversibility of progress,”says the report elaborated by the European Commission within CVM.