The first vice-president of the European Commission, Frans Timmermans, told a press conference after marathon meetings with Romanian officials in Bucharest, that Romania has achieved a lot of things regarding the justice independence in the past 20 years, advising the authorities to keep running, but not backwards.
He also voiced a hint in support for the National Anti-corruption Directorate and its leadership, stating that in the EC’s opinion, there is nothing wrong with the judiciary system in Romania and that magistrates should be the ones to check the magistrates’ activity and not politicians, thus referring to the Justice minister’s call to dismiss DNA head Laura Codruta Kovesi.
“My message is: you have achieved so many things on the justice independence in Romania in the past 20 years, so much has been achieved also due to the CVM, in the past 11 years since you joined the EU. It’s like you’d have run in a marathon, and now you are in the home stretch. My message: keep running, but not in the opposite direction (…) The most important thing is the all those involved should work together, not one against the others. There is only a few Commission recommendations that still need to be fulfilled. But don’t stop, don’t stand still, and, for Heaven’s sake, certainly don’t run in the opposite direction!,” the European Commission no. 2 said.
He also said stated that Europe’s eyes are set on Romania and on the justice laws’ conflict, adding that people are wondering why there is such a conflict between Parliament and the judiciary system, why people are taking to the streets to protest…
Timmermans also stated that the EC is very well informed, and the excuse that there wouldn’t be good information reports will not exist in the future, as there will be a direct contact with the EC from now on.
The EC top official said there has never been the impression on their side that they hadn’t been well informed. “We agreed to have direct contacts with the involved institutions (…) the Chamber speakers can call me directly when they have the impression I haven’t understood. They can go to the media as well, but they should also give me a call, for it’s better to talk directly,” Timmermans explained.
He added that there is a good team of the European Commission in Bucharest and it will always give correct information reports.
His statements came after Chamber speaker, Liviu Dragnea, also chairman of the ruling Social Democrat Party, has accused the EC Representation in Bucharest of misinforming about the situation of the judiciary in Romania.
On the other hand, Frans Timmermans pointed out that Romania is ready to join the Schengen zone. According to the EC’s no 2, it’s time that the other member states admit that Romania is ready to be part of Schengen.