Brussels, 04/07/2012 (Agence Europe) - The European Commissioner for Justice and Human Rights, Viviane Reding, is “deeply concerned” at the internal political situation in Romania and by what certain public figures and NGOs on the ground have described as direct attacks against the institutions of the state, particularly the constitutional court. The commissioner gave her reaction to this effect through her Twitter account on Tuesday 3 July, pointing out, amongst other things, that an independent legal system is a fundamental European principle. She was echoing concerns already expressed at the European Parliament on the same day, such as statements made by the head of the EPP Group, the French MEP Joseph Daul, who called on Social Democrat Prime Minister Victor Ponta to respect the rule of law.
In recent weeks, a number of events have led to a poisonous atmosphere in Romania. Ponta, who has been tasked with leading the government into the general elections scheduled for the autumn, was accused of plagiarism in his thesis. More recently, a ruling of the Romanian constitutional court interpreting the forms of the country's political representation at European Summits concluded that the role of representative belonged to the president, currently Traian Basescu, rather than the prime minister. Even so, Ponta travelled to Brussels for the most recent Summit, stressing that the court ruling was not binding.
The rivalry between Ponta and Basescu, however, took a more dramatic turn when the prime minister and his Centre-Left majority, the Liberal Social Union, were accused of removing high-ranking figures and other civil servants close to the opposition, AFP reports. The Liberal-Democratic speakers of the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies were removed and the coalition in power sought to dismiss from the constitutional court a number of judges who are believed to have been involved in issuing the ruling on Romania's representation at European Councils.
AFP goes on to report that the Court itself has expressed concerns about the treatment meted out to it by the new government, which it described as “unprecedented attacks”. Its magistrates even went to the Council of Europe's Venice Commission, which had previously intervened in the dispute between the European Commission and Hungary, where the Hungarian government of Viktor Orban had adopted measures which, amongst other things, limited the actions of independent institutions such as the Hungarian Central Bank.
The Commission spokesperson tasked with evaluating the efforts of Romania and Bulgaria under the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism (CVM), Mark Gray, reiterated on Wednesday 4 July that respecting decisions of the judiciary and the independence of the judicial system were key criteria in the assessment of these member states. Since they joined the EU in 2007, Bucharest and Sofia have been subject to regular reports on their efforts in the fight against corruption and reforms to guarantee the independence of the justice system. The next report of the Commission, which is due to appear very soon, is particularly important as the European institution is to state this year whether the two countries still need to continue under the CVM mechanism. EU home affairs ministers will take the results of the report as a basis to announce, in September, whether Romania and Bulgaria are finally ready to join the Schengen area. (SP/transl.fl)