Brussels, 17/12/2013 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 16 December, European Commissioner for Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship Viviane Reding told the European Parliament's civil liberties committee that she was very concerned about the direction the fight against corruption is taking in Romania. “It is not going in the right direction”, Reding said in response to a draft law amending the criminal code and granting broad immunity to Romanian members of parliament on deeds of corruption. The draft law still has to be discussed in Bucharest by the end of February. Reding said she is following these developments closely and the next report under the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism (CVM), which is scheduled for January, will integrate this development. This is not the first time that Romania has raised the Commission's concern. In July 2012, Prime Minister Viktor Ponta tried to remove President Basescu by using the constitutional court and attempting to change the methods of validating referendums. At the start of December, Romania was again failed by its European counterparts in its examination for joining the Schengen area, as Romania was judged too lax in its fight against corruption. (SP/transl.fl)