European Commission under fire for CVM Report on #Romania

The opinion of the Romanian Constitutional Court is now expected to be delivered on 12th December. But in the meanwhile concerns have been expressed that the European Commission's CVM Report on Romania failed to address a number of key issues, writes James Wilson.

For example, this year has seen a Romanian parliamentary inquiry unearth 65 protocols between the Romanian Intelligence Service (SRI) and the Anti-Corruption Directorate (DNA) and a wide range of other law enforcement, judicial and administrative agencies.

One of these protocols is with the Superior Council of Magistracy (CSM), which is responsible for regulating the activities of judges and prosecutors. This protocol is especially alarming as it points to intelligence service pressure and control over the judicial system.

Another element of concern is that the protocols are used to skirt constitutional safeguards in the gathering of evidence which contravenes Romania’s constitution as well as the European Union’s Charter of Fundamental Rights.

Yet the CVM report offered a very weak response to the protocol scandal.  It tried to emphasise that the protocols were with prosecutors and shied away from the fact that the court institutions too (including the Superior Council of Magistracy), had such arrangements with the intelligence services.

There must be a question mark over how we can expect courts to tackle such allegations when they themselves have protocols with the intelligence services. The very existence of these protocols is an affront to European principles on rule of law and justice.

Speaking exclusively to EU Reporter, senior MEP Norica Nicolai from the ALDE Group said, "We now look to the legal possibility to denounce this document before the European Court of Justice."

The Author, James Wilson, is the Founding Director of the International Foundation for Better Governance.

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