President Iohannis: Justice laws can be changed but so as to improve the system

Justice laws can be changed but so as to improve the independence and efficiency of the judiciary, President Klaus Iohannis said on Thursday in Brussels. 

Iohannis made this statement in reply to a question as to his stance regarding the concerns expressed by 12 partner states over the tentative amendments to the Criminal Code and the Criminal Procedure Code. 

"They are perfectly right. This is what I have been saying since long. The laws of justice can be changed, but the changes must be such as to improve the independence and efficiency of the judiciary. And these warnings are exactly what I have been saying for a long time, just like many Romanians. I hope PSD [e.n. Social Democratic Party, major at rule] also hear this," the head of state said upon arriving at the European Council meeting. 

The US, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Switzerland, Finland, France, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden, Romania's "international partners and allies" called on Thursday "on all parties involved in amending Romania's criminal and criminal procedure codes to avoid changes that would weaken the rule of law or Romania's ability to fight crime or corruption. Romania has shown considerable progress in combating corruption and building effective rule of law. We encourage Romanians to continue on this path," reads the message of the twelve states, which goes on to say: "We are following closely the changes to the criminal codes and remain concerned that several are likely to impede international law enforcement cooperation and negatively impact the fight against violent crime, transnational organized crime, financial crimes, and drug and human trafficking".