The Co-operation and Verification Mechanism report on Romania

The political and institutional crisis Romania was confronted with last summer, when a referendum was held to impeach the country’s president, weighed heavily in the latest European Commission report under the Co-operation and Verification Mechanism for the judiciary.

At the time of the referendum, the Commission made a series of recommendations to the Ponta cabinet related to the reinstatement of the rule of law and the respect for the independence of the judiciary.

According to the latest report made public on Wednesday, Romania has implemented some but not all of these recommendations.

While the decisions of the Constitutional Court have been respected, the European Commission believes there is still insufficient progress when it comes to protecting judicial officials from attacks, many of which come from the media.

Also, the report again praises the performance of the National Integrity Agency and the National Anticorruption Directorate and notes that the number of indictments in top-level corruption cases has doubled.

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