Romania’s Lower Chamber Adopts Reexamined Integrity Agency Bill

The integrity agency bill was adopted with 201 votes for, one vote against and eleven abstentions. Deputies debated the bill Tuesday and decided to submit it to an article-by-article vote on the same day.

The amendments brought by the Chamber’s committee for legal matters were adopted with no objections.

The Chamber’s committee finalized the report on the reexamination of the law Monday and unanimously decided that the wealth and interests statements filled out by high officials should include anonymized addresses, personal identification numbers and signatures.

Democrat liberal Gabriel Andronache, secretary of the Chamber’s committee for legal matters, said that the lower house is the first chamber notified in this respect, as the law must pass through Senate before it enters force.

Basescu wrote Monday to the heads of the Senate and Chamber of Deputies, renewing his request for the adoption of the Civil and Criminal procedural Codes, and the law on the National Integrity Agency, before the Parliament recess.

The procedure for submitting wealth and interest statements was sanctioned by Romania’s former integrity agency law, whose articles on the matter were declared unconstitutional on June 15.

Romania’s integrity agency, was set up in 2007 at the European Union’s recommendation to make public officials more accountable and crack down on endemic corruption. It has targeted politicians and officials in all parties.