Romanian Parliament continues to attack EU-backed reforms

Against international criticism and the will of President Traian Basescu, the Senate has adopted a raft of laws crippling the EU-backed National Integrity Agency (ANI), leaving the anti-corruption watchdog virtually powerless

July 2010 - From the Print Edition

The good functioning of ANI is one of the core demands the European Union placed on Romania, so the country could secure accession in 2007.
However many politicians and public figures in Romania deem ANI a threat to their privacy and personal business.
In May, the Constitutional Court declared the agency illegal and the Parliament sought to weaken the powers of the agency.
However President Traian Basescu refused to sign off on the law and the lower house, the Chamber of Deputies, strengthened the agency once again.
But the upper house Senate’s judicial commission killed off the resuscitated bill.
Led by Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania (UDMR)’s Gyorgy Frunda, senators eliminated from the law demands that entire declarations of wealth of public dignitaries and political candidates be made public and removed the establishment of a new commission to investigate the fortunes of dignitaries.
Public officials’ art objects and jewellery worth over 5,000 Euro no longer have to be made public. Dignitaries will only have to publicize the amounts they cash in and the land and houses they own.
Additionally, Senators shortened from three years to one the period in which former dignitaries can be investigated after the end of their terms.
According to Adrian Moraru from the Institute of Public Policy, the new law “turns ANI into an NGO” because its investigations will have no more leverage in front of prosecutors than any other complaint from the public.
Minister of Justice Catalin Predoiu said the latest version of the law was better than the weakened form first sent to the President, but “not really what we wanted”.
Improvements to the original ‘butchered’ form include the demand that all political candidates submit declarations of wealth and the re-introduction of penalties for dignitaries erring in filling the declarations.
Head of ANI Catalin Macovei told RFI the Senate text will lead to a “catastrophic” evaluation from the European Commission. The EU is currently watching Romania’s justice reform through a Cooperation and Verification Mechanism (CVM). The adoption of procedural codes for the penal and civil codes on 22 June was an important step towards putting an end to the CVM, but experts argue this is likely to continue.