BUCHAREST (Romania), January 25 (SeeNews) – Romania should move forth with the reform of its Criminal Codes in full transparency and dialogue with the relevant authorities and stakeholders in decision-making, the European Commission (EC) said on Wednesday.
"The current phase in the reform of Romania's Criminal Codes should be concluded, with Parliament taking forward its plans to adopt the amendments presented by the government in 2016 after consultation with the judicial authorities," the Commission said in a report under the EU's Cooperation and Verification Mechanism (CVM).
"In order to improve further the transparency and predictability of the legislative process, and strengthen internal safeguards in the interest of irreversibility, the government and parliament should ensure full transparency and take proper account of consultations with the relevant authorities and stakeholders in decision-making and legislative activity on the Criminal Code and Code for Criminal Procedures, on corruption laws, on integrity laws, on the laws of justice and on the Civil Code and Code for Civil Procedures," it added.
The Romanian government's intentions to adopt a massive pardon bill and revise the penal code to decriminalize some offences have triggered massive street protests - with some 48,000 people gathering on Sunday night in Bucharest and other cities - as their critics see in the planned move an attempt to weaken the fight against corruption. Romania's attorney general, the supreme court, the chief of the anti-graft department and representatives of the civil society warned that if the decrees pass, some 2,500 people, including elected officials convicted of corruption will be released.
The Commission also recommended that Romania put in place a strong and independent system of appointing top prosecutors, based on clear and transparent criteria, drawing on the support of the Venice Commission - an advisory body of the Council of Europe, composed of independent experts in the field of constitutional law.
Also, Romania needs to ensure that the code of conduct for parliamentarians which is being prepared in parliament includes clear provisions on mutual respect between institutions and making clear that parliamentarians should respect the independence of the judiciary. A similar code of conduct could be adopted for the ministers, EC stated.
The Commission also advised the government to draft an action plan to address the implementation of court decisions and application of jurisprudence of the courts by public administration, including a mechanism to provide accurate statistics to enable future monitoring.
"The Parliament should be transparent in its decision-making with regard to the follow-up to final and irrevocable decisions on incompatibilities, conflicts of interests and unjustified wealth against its members," the EC also noted. In this respect, it called for the adoption of objective criteria for deciding on and motivating lifting of immunity of MPs to help ensure that immunity is not used to avoid investigation and prosecution of corruption crimes.
With the National Anti-Corruption Directorate, DNA, and the High Court of Cassation and Justice having established an impressive track record in terms of solving high and medium-level corruption these actions are even more needed, EC noted.
As in last year's report, the EC noted progress made by Romania in the last years, as the latest reports were able to highlight a positive trend and a track record pointing to strong progress and growing irreversibility of the reforms under the CVM.
"This positive trend was confirmed in 2016 with a continued track record for the judicial institutions in a time of change in leadership and a strong impetus by the government to strengthen corruption prevention," it commented.
The completion of the CVM of the EU for Romania will depend on how quickly the country will be able to fulfil objectives in an irreversible way and on avoiding negative steps which call into question the progress made so far, the Commission also said.
Commenting on the CVM report findings, President Klaus Iohannis noted the Commission's concerns over the negative effect that the government's plans to modify the legal framework could have on the fight against corruption.
"CVM's completion depends on avoiding negative developments that would call into question the progress that has been achieved so far by Romania. The government and the current parliamentary majority must understand that only by continuing to support strengthening reforms in the justice and the fight against corruption they will contribute to strengthening the rule of law and to completing CVM," the president said in a statement published on the presidency's website.