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MEP Norica Nicolai: 'It is time to remove the stamp of #corruption from #Romania' 

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lazaroiu_e_putin_probabil_verdictul_cazul_iohannis_dat_pana_alegeriUnity in diversity is the main motto of the European Union. We function as a union of equal states, supposed to respect each other and to accept our differences, writes MEP Norica Nicolai.

Romania has consistently acted like a sensible student in its relationship with the EU, willing to develop as a nation and assure a better life for its citizens. As new member state in 2007, we have accepted the monitoring mechanism on justice (MCV), a stigma that gave us the image of a problematic country, which needs yearly reports to get better. This mechanism still exists, although it has often been used as a political instrument to support or to weaken the trust in different Romanian governments. For the moment, the MCV is a pretext to keep my country out of the Schengen area, against any legal or logical arguments.

Since 2004, Romania has been under the influence of the right wing. The country’s last two presidents came from these parties and continued to work in that direction, despite constitutional restrictions. In all these years, the presidential regimes and the people close to them have controlled almost everything: from parts of the media to political decisions, justice and the business world.

Today, we have arrived at a point where Romania has selective justice. Corruption files are hidden for ten or 12 years before being revealed. Justice delayed is justice denied and I would add that delayed justice blocks the state in its efforts to recover economic losses due to corruption.

The former government, the president’s government, even adopted an Emergency Ordinance that gave the secret service’s employees the power to execute penal procedures, which is totally against the constitution. This legalised an interference between justice and secret services, which leaves a lot of space for interpretation in the way justice is done, all under the strict supervision of the EC and in the name of the fight against corruption.

This fight against corruption, so strongly supported by Brussels, has become a witch-hunt, with prosecutors, judges, the secret services and the president all protecting their influence in the business world. Romania is not a poor country but over the years it has been very poorly managed, mostly for the benefit of the people other than its citizens. Governments have been demolished or brought to power “thanks” to selective corruption allegations.

The Socialists won the latest elections in December with a clear majority. Romanians had been disappointed by the way the right-wing ruled the country and voted democratically for a change. Since then, any action from the government has either been blocked by the president or turned around by the right-wing press in a way to incite the population to go to the streets and protest. A large number of NGOs and opinion makers close to the right-wing parties and the president have been involved in the organisation of the anti-government protests, thanks to social media.

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Meanwhile, in this noisy and aggressive atmosphere, Romania is losing millions of Euros of EU funds every day since its government agencies are blocked. The EU is reforming and our president, despite his moderator role, is busy convincing EU leaders that the Socialist government in Romania is corrupt and his former party is not.

Meanwhile, Romania’s instability is worrying our partners in economic and foreign affairs. It’s sad to see some of our politicians coming to Brussels not to lobby for our country, but to issue negative statements about the Romanian government. They are providing half of the facts, putting the stamp of “corruption” on our country over and over. This has to stop!

I refuse to accept that Romania is a problematic EU member. I am aware about cases of corruption in more mature European democracies, but none of the EU officials are treating these governments as bad students.

Europe is reforming today, facing many crises like migration, Brexit, terrorism and extremism. The EU should also reform the way their leaders act: less politically and more in the spirit of our core values, respect for our own differences and between our countries.

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