European Parliament resolution of 13 November 2018 on the rule of law in Romania (2018/2844(RSP))

On 13^th November, 2018, European Parliament issued a resolution on the rule of law in Romania (2018/2844(RSP)), underlying, among other things, the “serious concern” expressed in its report on Romania of April 2018 by the Council of Europe’s Group of States against Corruption (GRECO) “about certain aspects of the laws on the status of judges and prosecutors, on the judicial organisation and on the Superior Council of Magistracy as adopted by the Romanian Parliament, as well as on draft amendments to the criminal legislation; whereas GRECO questions the legislative process, fears the impact on judicial independence and suggests implicit violation of anti-corruption standards.”

The resolution points out as well that the Venice Commission, in its opinion No 924/2018 of 20 October 2018, concluded that “although welcome improvements have been brought to the drafts following criticism and a number of decisions of the Constitutional Court, there are important aspects introduced by the three drafts, which could result in pressure on judges and prosecutors, and ultimately, undermine the independence of the judiciary and of its members and, coupled with the early retirement arrangements, its efficiency and its quality, with negative consequences for the fight against corruption’, seeing those aspects as likely to ‘undermine public confidence in the judiciary.”

The text of the resolution is available here:

http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//NONSGML+TA+P8-TA-2018-0446+0+DOC+PDF+V0//EN