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The General Prosecutor's Office argues in a standpoint regarding the Group of States against Corruption (GRECO) report that the amendments brought to the Justice Laws contain mismatches and gaps and don't induce predictability and stability in the judicial system, with negative consequences in respect to Justice independence and progresses recorded over the past years.
"The leadership of the Public Ministry reconfirms the position constantly expressed in respect to the legislative process of amending the Justice Laws, a process which didn't observe the efficiency and transparency standards, eluding the possibility of a real and constructive debate, without taking into account the negative opinion of the Superior Council of Magistrates [CSM] and that of the magistrate body and civil society. Furthermore, referring to the conclusions of the GRECO report, the Public Ministry reveals that the legislative amendments were not based on an impact study, containing mismatches and gaps and don't induce predictability and stability in the judicial system of Romania, with negative consequences in respect to Justice independence and progresses recorded over the past years," a release of the General Prosecutor's Office published on Thursday informs.
GRECO, the anti-corruption body attached to the Council of Europe (CoE), published on Thursday a report showing that Romania made very limited progress concerning the implementation of the GRECO recommendations in respect to the prevention and fight against corruption regarding MPs, judges and prosecutors.
GRECO highlights that Romania has fully implemented only two of the 13 recommendations included in an assessment of 2016. Seven recommendations were not implemented and another four were partially implemented, a release of the Council of Europe mentions.
The report also remarked the fact that the main initiative adopted by Romania in relation to MPs was the adoption of a behavioral code in October 2017, which purpose was to regulate gifts and other benefits and the way to manage conflict of interests.
Despite this progress, GRECO underscored that the wording was too general in the behavioral code and the rules for its implementations inconsistent, which prevents it from becoming a fully satisfying instrument.
Moreover, GRECO believes that Romania did not pay an adequate attention to improving the activity of the National Agency for Integrity (ANI) in controlling wealth and interests statements of MPs, although the working methods and the data processing capabilities have improved. GRECO also requests the improvement of the implementation into practice of the resolutions and sanctions of ANI regarding incompatibilities and conflicts of interests.
