Brussels, 04/02/2013 (Agence Europe) - Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta came to Brussels on Monday to reiterate his country's commitment to moving towards respecting the independence of the judiciary and the independence of the media. He met the presidents of the Commission and of the European Council, José Manuel Barroso and Herman Van Rompuy, just a few days after the publication of a mixed report on Romania. On 30 January, the Commission stated in its latest MCV (Mechanism for Cooperation and Verification) that the judiciary was still not fully independent and that many cases of intimidation against legal personnel had been reported, the Commission even referring to threats against judges and their families. The report pointed the finger, too, at certain sections of the media, launching harassment campaigns against certain judges, and even criticised the presence in government of ministers who had been involved in corruption cases, but the Commission did not give precise numbers in an initial version of its report.
This criticism has been heard by Victor Ponta, who undertook on Monday to implement all the recommendations made by the Commission. He even thanked the president of the Commission and the president of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, for their help in improving his country. Ponta also took the opportunity of this trip to Brussels to plead for Romania to be allowed to join the Schengen zone, an accession he wishes to obtain in March at the meeting of the Home Affairs Ministers of the 27. On this point, he has the support of Barroso, who reminded a press conference that he wished to see the country join Schengen, despite the criticism made in the MCV report.
The two men also discussed the forthcoming summit on the budget of the EU 2014-2020, at which Ponta will defend the envelopes earmarked for the cohesion fund and the CAP and the improvement of absorption capacities for these funds. (SP/transl.fl)