On Tuesday, 4 June, President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker and First Vice-President Frans Timmermans commended “the Romanian government’s commitment not to pursue the controversial judicial reforms and to immediately resume dialogue under the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism (CVM) in order to advance judicial reforms and fight corruption”.
The two European leaders spoke at the end of a meeting with Romanian Prime Minister Viorica Dăncilă in Brussels, even though relations between the Commission and Bucharest were strained following a series of heavily criticised measures that would weaken the fight against corruption in the country. In May, the Commission had even threatened to initiate the Rule of Law Mechanism, which would replace the CVM that has been in place since 2007.
According to a statement, the two leaders reaffirmed to Mrs Dăncilă on Tuesday that “the Commission is ready to work with the Romanian authorities in order to find solutions to the problems related to rule of law and to resume the progress made within the framework of the CVM”.
The Romanian prime minister had recently announced that she wanted to restore peace in the country and put an end to the most controversial legal measures, such as amnesty laws for corruption crimes. Her party (the Social Democratic Party) was defeated in the European elections, and Romanian President Klaus Iohannis won his referendum on an initiative aiming to curb reforms.
The results of the European elections were also discussed during this meeting as well as “the excellent work accomplished by the Romanian Presidency so far, closing more than 100 cases, including certain important cases, such as the European Border and Coast Guard, the European Labour Agency, copyright, and the ‘Gas’ Directive”.
The question of rule of law will be a priority during the Finnish Presidency, which is expected to put the subject back on the General Affairs Council agenda potentially as early as July. At this time, Article 7 procedures concerning Poland and Hungary will finally not be on the General Affairs Council agenda for 18 June. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)