17:46, 12 Feb. 2025
Basescu said Thursday in Brussels, after a meeting with Barroso, that although the country’s integrity agency was stripped of its main attributions following a Constitutional Court ruling, Romania undertakes to set its integrity agency in motion again and have public officials’ wealth and financial resources thoroughly checked.
The head of state also said Romania shows full support for the „correctness” of conditions imposed by European Commission for the Romanian judiciary.
„Romania fully supports the correctness of objectives set with EC officials, which target to reform the country’s legal system and render the fight against corruption more efficient,” said Basescu.
16:12, 10 Feb. 2025
Barroso, in turn, said he is concerned about the Constitutional Court ruling regarding the activity of Romania’s integrity agency, arguing the anticorruption body needs a solid legal framework to ensure full independence and the ability to carry out investigations.
Barroso stressed Romania still needs to make significant progress in reforming its legal system and fighting against corruption, adding the country ought to adopt its new civil and criminal procedure codes and implement valid laws.
He also said he is confident Romania will fulfill its undertaken commitments with respect to its integrity agency, which he deemed of utmost importance.
Romania’s integrity agency, a EU-required institution, has been stripped of its main attributions in screening public officials wealth and interest statements, following a Constitutional Court ruling last week. The Court, which motivated its decision Thursday, said the agency mistakes investigative for judicial powers, its publication of public officials’ wealth statements breaches the right to privacy and the agency’s role, as regulated by law, doesn’t apply the presumption of innocence and forces the people investigated to bring in evidence proving their innocence.
The Constitutional Court also said Thursday the Government cannot pass an emergency decree to keep the agency functioning. The Court said the Government may, however, initiate a draft law, but it is the Parliament’s prerogative to fix the law regulating the agency’s activity.
Legislators have 45 days to amend the provisions in the law the Court deemed unconstitutional.