Romania has the responsibility to overcome the Co-operation and Verification Mechanism (CVM) phase, the European Commission's First Vice-President Frans Timmermans told an award ceremony in Bucharest on Monday, where he was presented with an honorary doctorate by the Bucharest National University of Political Studies and Public Administration (SNSPA).
We have seen a completely different Romania in the late 1980s and early 1990s. If you told me then that Romania would become an EU member in 2007, I would have said it is impossible, but the Romanians did this. The EU has made this possible, and this has been a historic event, I have no doubt. (...) But with these privileges and success come great responsibilities too, and Romania has a responsibility - to overcome the CVM phase. The Co-operation and Verification Mechanism was designed to solve problems that had to be resolved before accession. We still talk about them 12 years after accession, he said.
Frans Timmermans said he wanted to talk in his speech on the rule of law, convinced that it is one of the issues that will be decisive for the European destiny.
Our society and our institutions are based on democracy, the rule of law and respect for fundamental human rights, none of which can be instrumentalised against each other, said Timmermans. What we have seen very often in recent years, unfortunately, was that when, for example, the European Commission or the Council of Europe or the Venice Commission have criticised changes that increased the control of the executive power over the judiciary, very often this was justified by explanations like: We won the election, so we can decide. (...) And when criticising attacks at the freedom of the press, those who do so say they have gotten the majority and have the support of the people, he said.
According to Timmermans, accepting such reasoning is a danger, because when the rule of law is threatened and press freedom is affected, almost automatically corruption increases.
When steps are taken back with the rule of law, he said, not only the independence of the judiciary is affected, it is also about the way in which public funds are spent, and politicians are held accountable. He added that there is a link between these things, and that is why the European Commission has proposed that there should be a link between granting European funds and the member states respecting the rule of law, explained the first vice-president of the European Commission.
He added that he is confident because Europeans are better able to understand that their destinies are tied and that the time has passed in which every nation would be concerned with its own fate only.
That can also increase the feeling of uncertainty, he said, but it is our destiny. We have to deal with it together and we can only do it if we protect our fundamental values, including the rule of law. The European Commission, he added, is sometimes a referee in a football match. We have the regulation to be applied and the non-compliant member state always protesting that it is unfair, that the others are worse, or that double standards are applied. I have heard all of them, but the European Commission will not take into account political colour when it comes to the rule of law, Frans Timmermans stated.
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