The Constitutional Court ruled on Thursday that declarations of assets and interests should not include the assets and income of spouses, G4Media and Agerpres reported, citing sources. As of this time, the CCR has not officially announced the decision.
Following this decision, which is final, declarations of assets submitted to the National Integrity Agency should no longer include the assets of spouses and children.
Before the Constitutional Court session began, six NGOs called on the Court to uphold the principles of the rule of law and warned that “all international standards on public integrity recommend a transparent system of asset and interest declarations.”
Radu Nicolae, president of the Association for Cooperation and Sustainable Development—one of the six NGOs—informed the public of the Constitutional Court’s decision. The Court declared the following articles of Law no. 176/2010 unconstitutional:
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Art. 3, para. 2 – (2) Asset declarations are completed under the declarant’s own responsibility and must include the rights and obligations of the declarant, their spouse, as well as dependent children, according to Annex no. 1.
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Art. 12, para. 6 – (6) The Agency ensures the publication of asset and interest declarations, as outlined in Annexes 1 and 2, on its website within a maximum of 30 days from receipt, with anonymization of the declared property addresses (except for the locality), the address of the institution managing financial assets, the personal identification number, and the signature. These declarations remain available online for the duration of the office or mandate and for 3 years after it ends, and are archived according to the law.
“**The Constitutional Court has destroyed asset and interest declarations—**the only civic oversight tool against corruption—and has opened the door to non-transparent and illicit enrichment. The CCR’s decision represents a setback for the rule of law and public integrity, and shows disregard for Romania’s international commitments. It will severely damage Romania’s relationship with the European Union and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), where we aspire to gain membership. The decision rolls Romania back to the year 2010 and nullifies 15 years of anti-corruption efforts. It comes in an extremely unfavorable context for Romanian democracy, which has already canceled elections in 2024, and sends a deeply troubling signal to citizens who have chosen the rule of law and democracy,” he wrote on Facebook.
ANI: Ruling is jeopardizing 20 years of anti-corruption fight, may undermine OECD accession
ANI also points out that the provisions in question have been previously addressed, specifically through Constitutional Court Decision No. 309/2014, which established that “the legislative solution of publishing asset and interest declarations is justified by the legal purpose of the National Integrity Agency to ensure integrity in the exercise of public office and prevent institutional corruption. Furthermore, these declarations are published in accordance with Article 6, paragraph (1), letter e) of Law No. 176/2010, with the anonymization of personal data, thereby providing safeguards against arbitrary interference.”
“Today’s CCR decision, which declares certain articles of the ANI law unconstitutional, effectively cancels the public nature of asset and interest declarations and may violate all of Romania’s international anti-corruption and public integrity commitments made over the past 20 years,” the ANI statement continues.
Additionally, the agency warns that such a ruling could impact Romania’s accession process to the OECD, as well as the progress recorded in EU monitoring mechanisms (such as the Rule of Law Report) and the Council of Europe’s Group of States Against Corruption (GRECO).
ANI further notes that “today’s CCR decision may lead to the annulment of the publication of asset and interest declarations that the Agency currently maintains on its website, depending on the reasoning provided by the Constitutional Court.”
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