Romanian Govt Holds Cabinet Meeting Monday To Discuss Integrity Agency

Interior Minister Vasile Blaga said the justice minister presented Monday morning a draft law to fix the agency's situation, which will be discussed in the meeting.

Following a Constitutional Court ruling, Romania's integrity agency, a EU-required anticorruption body, has been stripped of its main attributions in screening public officials wealth and interest statements and recommending prosecution for wrongdoing.

The Court, which motivated its decision last week, 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 Government was considering passing an emergency decree to keep the agency running, but the Constitutional Court said the law regulating the agency may only be fixed using parliamentary procedure.

Romanian President Traian Basescu meets Monday at 5 p.m. with representatives of parliamentary parties for talks on the country's integrity agency.

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