Romania President: Govt Will Issue Emergency Decree To Keep Integrity Agency Running

„The Government will issue an emergency decree after it takes note of the motivation of the Constitutional Court ruling and I can assure you the country’s integrity agency will be up and running again”, Basescu said at the end of the press conference held Thursday in Brussels, alongside European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso.

Barroso said the EC hopes that Romania, in which corruption is a serious issue, will fulfill its undertaken commitment to fight corruption, arguing that an integrity agency in a country facing serious corruption issues is of top priority and utmost importance.

Barroso also said Thursday he is concerned about the Constitutional Court ruling regarding the activity of Romania’s integrity agency, arguing the anticorruption body needs a solid legal framework to ensure full independence and the ability to carry out investigations.

He underscored that Romania still needs to make significant progress in reforming its legal system and fighting against corruption, adding the country ought to adopt its new civil and criminal procedure codes and implement valid laws.

Basescu also said Thursday in Brussels that Romania will fulfill its undertaken commitments to have a fully operational integrity agency that will meet its objective to screen public officials’ wealth and interest statements.

The head of state pointed out that although the country’s integrity agency was stripped of its main attributions following a Constitutional Court ruling, Romania undertakes to set its integrity agency in motion again and have public officials’ wealth and financial resources thoroughly checked.

He also said Romania shows full support for the „correctness” of conditions imposed by European Commission for the Romanian judiciary.

Romania’s integrity agency, a EU-required institution, has been stripped of its main attributions in screening public officials wealth and interest statements, following a Constitutional Court ruling last week. The Court, which motivated its decision Thursday, said the agency mistakes investigative for judicial powers, its publication of public officials’ wealth statements breaches the right to privacy and the agency’s role, as regulated by law, doesn’t apply the presumption of innocence and forces the people investigated to bring in evidence proving their innocence.

The Constitutional Court also said Thursday the Government cannot pass an emergency decree to keep the agency running. The Court said the Government may, however, initiate a draft law, but it is the Parliament’s prerogative to fix the law regulating the agency’s activity.

Legislators have 45 days to amend the provisions in the law the Court deemed unconstitutional.