The European Commission (EC) yesterday published its most
critical report to date on Romanian justice since the establishment
of the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism (CVM – a monitoring
mechanism) over three years ago. The report says Romania has broken
its commitments with the EU to correct its shortcomings and,
without resorting to threats of financial penalties, asks the
Romanian authorities to take immediate action in the fight against
corruption and monitor penalties applied in high-level corruption
cases.
The Commission’s previous reports, although critical of some
sectors, used such wording as “insufficient” or “limited progress”,
but the current report says in reference to high officials’ wealth
control that Romania has not acted in line with the commitments
taken upon accession.
President Traian B`sescu yesterday said the report was
objective, but that the phrase in it about Romania breaking its
commitments was unacceptable and Romania could not agree to such
an exaggeration.