At a General Affairs Council session in Brussels on Tuesday, EU ministers have approved conclusions now adopted by all 28 member states with regard to monitoring reports issued annually about Bulgarian and Romania’s state of the judiciary and anti-corruption efforts under the so-called Cooperation and Verification Mechanism (CVM), novinite.com reports.
The vast part of conclusions and recommendations refer to Bulgaria, with Romania’s effort being “commended” and with the council stating that Bucharest is on the way “to attain the objectives of the Mechanism” by “ensuring sustainability and irreversibility”.
Although the latter comment could translate as a possibility for Romania to have the CVM revoked over the next years, the council has asserted that the mechanism “continues to be instrumental for progress” and that it “stays in place” pending the results expected from each of the two member states.
The Council commends the ‘significant progresses’ made by Romania.
“Action taken by the key judicial and integrity institutions to address high-level corruption has maintained an impressive momentum. The professionalism within the Romanian judicial system as a whole has continued to increase. Overall, the Council considers that Romania, by maintaining the current positive trends of reform and consolidation of progress and by internalizing the CVM objectives with national policies and strategies, is on its way to ensuring the necessary sustainability and irreversibility of reforms which would allow Romania to attain the objectives of the Mechanism,” a Council release reads.
“The Council also reiterates the importance of a broad and unequivocal political commitment to the reforms by all public institutions and political actors. This is particularly relevant with regard to the fight against corruption at all levels, to the respect for the independence of the judiciary, and to other integrity issues highlighted in the report. The Council notes that open and merit-based appointments to senior positions within the judiciary, and the scrutiny of candidates for forthcoming elections are a key opportunity to make further progress in these regards. The Council encourages Romania to swiftly finalise and adopt the Action Plan 2015-2020 for the implementation of the Strategy for the Development of the Judiciary 2015-2020 and the development of a new National Anti-Corruption Strategy.
Building on substantial progress already achieved, the Council encourages Romania to focus its efforts on further consolidating progress made, and to sustain the current positive momentum by addressing all the recommendations set out by the Commission in its report. This would further build towards demonstrating the sustainability of reforms which will pave the way to satisfactorily fulfil all the benchmarks of the Mechanism in the near future.”
Judicial independence
“Romania should further consolidate progress on ensuring solid respect for, and defence of, judicial independence. Transparent, robust and merit-based appointments to senior positions in the magistracy will be a key opportunity to demonstrate further progress. Pursuit of the judicial reform, including swift adoption of the amendments to the Criminal code and the Criminal procedure code, in line with what has been presented by the government, is also of key importance. Court decisions, including those confirming integrity rulings, should be applied and implemented by all institutions and instances without delay, including the Romanian parliament. Further sustained efforts to prevent and tackle corruption, including addressing it effectively and dissuasively at all levels and within all institutions, remain a top priority. “
Cooperation and Verification Mechanism
“The Council reiterates that the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism continues to be instrumental for progress. It remains an appropriate tool to assist both Member States in their respective reform efforts, in order for each of them to achieve a record of concrete and lasting results to reach the objectives of the Mechanism. The Council recalls its readiness to support efforts of Bulgaria and Romania in this regard through EU and bilateral assistance. Pending the results expected from each of the two Member States in this framework, the Mechanism stays in place. In this context, the Council looks forward to the next Commission reports on Bulgaria and Romania foreseen within a year’s time and welcomes the Commission’s intention to continue monitoring the situation in Bulgaria and Romania closely and to keep the Council regularly informed,” the release reads.
Bulgaria
Bulgaria needs to “consolidate and reinforce its overall resolve” to step up judicial reform and pursue and independent analysis of the prosecutor’s office, the Council of the EU believes.
“Overall progress in Bulgaria needs to be accelerated urgently,” the General Affairs Council says in a statement, adding some “encouraging steps have been taken to put the reform process back on track.”
The Council says it “appreciates the continued good co-operation of Bulgaria and Romania with the Commission and with the other Member States under the Mechanism” and “reiterates the need for broad and unequivocal political support for such reforms”.