Romania’s Ministry of Justice has stated that the evaluation of the Group of States against Corruption (GRECO) has declared that Romania made „significant progress” in 2022.
„The report of the Group of States against Corruption published today [Wednesday] emphasizes that, in 2022, as regards the implementation of the recommendations made, Romania made significant progress compared to 2021. In total, 10/18 recommendations on the prevention corruption of members of Parliament, prosecutors and judges were assessed as implemented satisfactorily or dealt with in a satisfactory manner”, reads a Ministry of Justice press release sent to AGERPRES.
According to the cited source, the general conclusion regarding Romania was that Romania’s current level of compliance is no longer „globally unsatisfactory”, as it was in 2021, because Romania has implemented „satisfactorily” or dealt „in a satisfactory manner” with 7 out of 13 recommendations included in the evaluation report related to the fourth round and 3 out of 5 recommendations in the follow-up report to the ad-hoc report.
„GRECO points out that the adoption by the Senate, on October 17, 2022, of the new Law on the status of judges and prosecutors, the new Law on judicial organization and the new Law on the Superior Council of Magistracy and their promulgation on November 15, 2022, by the President of Romania, represents important steps forward, which must be followed by a number of implementation measures. GRECO noted that efforts have been made to increase the role of the Superior Council of the Magistracy and the Judicial Inspection as a response to the integrity risks of judges and prosecutors through, inter alia, training and access to information. Efforts were also dedicated to establishing new legislation for judges and prosecutors to ensure their independence”, the Ministry of Justice states.
For instance, in regards to Recommendation xiii – the procedure for appointing and revoking prosecutors to/from management positions, with the exception of the general prosecutor, assessed in 2021 as not implemented, in December 2022 was qualified as partially implemented, GRECO recognizing the fact that the appointment procedure was made more transparent and criteria were established for the appointment and dismissal of prosecutors to/from the highest positions in the prosecutor’s office.
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