The draft report under the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism (CVM), obtained by Mediafax Tuesday, will be debated on and approved by the European Commission Wednesday.
The Commission makes a series of recommendations which summarize specific reforms needed to ensure progress under the CVM.
Regarding accountability in the Romanian justice system, the EC recommends Romania should:
– agree a joint policy between the High Council of Magistrates and the Government to promote accountability and integrity within the judiciary through convincing disciplinary practice and jurisprudence, with clear milestones for implementation. Use the implementation of the new laws on disciplinary responsibility and promotion to the High Court to set an example for the judicial system as a whole;
– ensure better coordination of legal, disciplinary and management instruments to protect the reputation of the judiciary in serious cases of misconduct, including decisions on individual rights, such as pensions;
– strengthen the capacity and performance of the Judicial Inspection to both pursue judicial accountability through the follow-up of individual cases, and to promote judicial efficiency, consistency and good practice through regular reviews of practice at all levels of the judicial system;
For the transparency and the consistency of the judicial process, the Commission advises Romania to:
– develop a comprehensive approach to put in place the structures, procedures and practices needed to accelerate legal unification. Make legal unification a management priority for court presidents and consistency an important element within the appraisal and promotion system of judges. Ensure the full, on-line publication and continuous update of motivated court decisions;
– further reform the High Court to allow stronger focus on legal unification.
For a more effective judicial action, the Commission recommends Romania should:
– establish and implement across the court system clear best practice guidelines regarding sentencing, case management and the consideration of evidence in criminal trials, with a particular emphasis on areas where shortcomings have already been identified, such as in the complex trials involving economic crimes and public procurement;
– Introduce reforms to publish court motivations swiftly after decisions are pronounced, to suspend prescription periods upon the beginning of a judicial investigation, and to improve the quality and availability of court expertise;
– continue the measures taken at the High Court to accelerate high level corruption trials, ensure that prescription periods are avoided, and introduce similar measures in other court;
– Continue to improve the consistency and dissuasiveness of penalties applied in high-level corruption cases in courts across Romania;
– ensure that the results achieved by the Public Ministry are continued under new leadership.
EC recommendations regarding integrity:
– ensure a convincing track record of prompt and dissuasive sanctions. Streamline the judicial review of the decisions of the National Integrity Agency (ANI) through improvements to judicial procedures and practice and through a review of ANI’s legal framework, to speed up final decisions and improve their consistency and dissuasiveness;
– Improve the cooperation of judicial and other administrative authorities with ANI with a view to ensure effective exchange of signals and operational information in all three areas of ANI’s activities. Cooperation with ANI should be a clear performance measure for the leadership of other administrative authorities.
Concerning the fight against corruption, the Commission urges Romania to:
– ensure that the results achieved by the National Anticorruption Department are continued under new leadership;
– implement the new National Anticorruption Strategy as designed, and set up a comprehensive system of monitoring so that all agencies of government set targets and report annually, in a common and comparable format, on the prevention and sanctioning of corruption, fraud and conflict of interest. In line with the Strategy, establish clear procedural rules and best practice for decisions of Parliament to allow investigation, arrest and search of lawmakers;
– demonstrate a track record in the prosecution of money laundering as a stand-alone offence and deliver convincing results in the recovery of the proceeds of crime, through strengthening judicial practice and applying the new law on extended confiscation;
– establish a clear coordination and monitoring mechanism between police, prosecution and administrative control authorities, with specific responsibility for ensuring effective cooperation and communication on corruption;
– improve results in the prevention and sanctioning of corruption, fraud and conflict of interest in public procurement across all sectors of government activity. In this context, Romania should provide proper follow-up to the recommendations of the external review of the public procurement system carried out on the initiative of the Commission.