Romanian President Asks Govt To Push For Single Law Regulating Integrity Agency

Basescu said Tuesday he will request a special Parliament session early August, mainly to discuss the integrity agency law, and has sent letters to the leaders of the two chambers of Parliament asking them to schedule a meeting.

The President said the session's agenda should feature the ANI law and will also include the bill whereby trials would no longer be suspended on account of exceptions of unconstitutionality, as well as the "law of small reform" in the justice system, currently pending authorization by the High Council of Magistrates.

According to the President, the bill whereby trials would continue when exceptions of unconstitutionality are raised has been tacitly adopted by the Chamber of Deputies and has been under the Senate's debate since December 2009.

Basescu said he decided to request the Parliament session after the European Commission report on the Romanian justice system was published.

The EC said in its report released Tuesday it sees changes to the integrity agency law as a significant step back in the fight against corruption and said weakening the agency breaches commitments Romania has taken upon accession. The Commission said the new law regulating the agency, adopted by Parliament following a Constitutional Court ruling, seriously undermines the process for effective verification, sanctioning and forfeiture of unjustified assets.

At the notice of President Traian Basescu, the Constitutional Court ruled on July 19 that the revised version of the law is also unconstitutional, which provides an opportunity to adopt a new law in conformity with Romania's obligations, the EC said and called on the country to take action correcting the National Integrity Agency law, monitoring sanctions applied in high-level corruption cases and install full transparency in public procurement.

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