The authorities in Bucharest have just received grade 2 from GRECO, Save Romania Union (USR) leader Dan Barna stated on Tuesday, a context in which he again called on the Social Democratic Party (PSD), the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats (ALDE) and the Hungarian Democratic Union of Romania (UDMR) to accept the disbanding of the Special Section for Magistrates' Investigation.
"The authorities in Bucharest have just received grade 2 from GRECO after Romania has implemented only one recommendation from the five formulated by GRECO experts in last year's ad-hoc report. Following the publication of the GRECO report - under public pressure, not because the current Government would care about transparency - the entire Romania could see once again what the European experts think about the so-called reform of the judiciary made by the PSD and the ALDE, which was aimed only at blocking the fight against corruption and destroying the system as a whole. The special section set up by Liviu Dragnea [former PSD leader, ed.n.] to intimidate and blackmail magistrates is described as an anomaly of the system and it has to be urgently disbanded," wrote Dan Barna on Facebook.
He reminded that USR tabled a new bill two weeks ago for the disbanding of the Special Section, after the previously submitted draft law was rejected by Parliament, through the vote of the majority in power, in March.
"We are again calling on the PSD, the ALDE and the UDMR to accept the disbanding of theSpecial Section for Magistrates' Investigation," added Dan Barna.
Romania has made little progress in adopting measures to prevent corruption among lawmakers, judges and prosecutors and to address concerns about its controversial reform of the judiciary, draws attention the Council of Europe's anti-corruption body GRECO, in two reports released on Tuesday, expressing deep concern, especially as regards the fact that the Romanian authorities completely ignored the recommendation to renounce the creation of the Section for investigating crimes in Justice.
Therefore, GRECO appeals to the Romanian authorities to take decisive steps to achieve tangible progress as quickly as possible, a press release from the Council of Europe shows. In this context, GRECO welcomes the announcement made by Premier Viorica Dancila on 4 June on the intention to abandon the controversial reforms in the Justice field.
In a report assessing progress in implementing the measures recommended in 2015 to prevent corruption among lawmakers, judges and prosecutors, GRECO states that Romania has fully respected only four of the 13 recommendations. The Romanian authorities partially implemented three recommendations and did not implement six.
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