The Romanian prime minister, Sorin Grindeanu, and the first vice-president of the European Commission, Frans Timmermans, pledged in a meeting in Brussels on Thursday 16 February to continue to jointly tackle corruption, with the Romanian hoping that the EU’s Monitoring and Verification Mechanism (MVM) that has applied to Romania since 2007 to measure progress in the judicial system and the fight against corruption, will end in 2019.
The Romanian prime minister explained that he would ask the Commission for details about the final criteria that need to be met. Timmermans said that the ultimate aim is to ensure the irreversibility of reforms. He welcomed the abrogation of the controversial decree that had led thousands of protesters to demonstrate against the government, explaining that the European Commission was prepared to help Romania meet the final criteria. Timmermans also offered EU financial aid for projects relating, for example, to building renovation.
Relations between Romania and the Commission have been under strain since the passing by the Romanian government at the end of January of a law to decriminalise corruption. The Commission unveiled a report on Wednesday 25 January that was rather optimistic about the country’s progress under the CVM (see EUROPE 11711), but Timmermans and President Juncker expressed ‘great concern’ and called on Romania to do a U-turn on the legislation. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)