The European Commission said, on Tuesday 22 November, in a new report on Romania under the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism (CVM) that it could now end the country’s specific monitoring system, which was put in place in 2007 when it joined the EU.
Romania - like Bulgaria, which was the subject of a last CVM report at the end of 2019 - can indeed now be assessed in the framework of the Commission’s annual Rule of Law report, which has been monitoring the situation of the EU27 in several areas, including corruption, since 2020. The Commission will therefore seek the opinion of the Council of the EU and the European Parliament to repeal the CVM.
The latest report on Romania, which takes stock of judicial and anti-corruption reforms, is eagerly awaited by countries such as the Netherlands in order to decide whether or not Romania should enter the Schengen area.
In its latest draft, the Commission notes “the considerable efforts made by Romania to implement all these recommendations through new laws, policies and tools to strengthen the judiciary and fight corruption”.
Romania’s progress “is sufficient to meet the CVM commitments made upon accession to the EU”.
The assessment also takes into account “Romania’s full engagement in the Rule of law reporting cycle”. Among the important reforms, the Commission mentions the recently adopted laws on justice and a new strategy for the development of the judicial system.
It also notes Romania’s commitment to take the utmost account of the opinion of the Venice Commission on the laws on justice. “With regard to the fight against corruption, public institutions are joining forces to implement a new national anti-corruption strategy and positive results in the effectiveness of investigations and sanctions against high-level corruption have continued in 2021 and 2022”.
The Council of Europe’s Venice Commission, in an urgent opinion on the country's recently enacted laws, noted positive elements, indicating that there does not currently appear to be any political interference in the work of the national anti-corruption directorate, but that recommendations remain to be implemented, according to Romanian media. They concern in particular the status of magistrates, the organisation of the judiciary and the Supreme Council of the Judiciary.
The Commission believes that it can continue to monitor these issues in the context of the annual Rule of Law reports or the European Semester and the National Recovery Plans.
For Bulgaria, the Commission continues to consider that the country has fulfilled all recommendations made under the CVM in 2019 and monitoring also continues through the annual Rule of Law reports.
Link to the report: https://aeur.eu/f/46i (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)