EU to tighten Romania surveillance in row over rule of law

The EU executive looks set to tighten its surveillance of Romania in coming months to ensure respect for the rule of law, undermined by recent political events there, EU sources said yesterday.
A draft European Commission report says that “at a time when serious concerns are raised with regard to respect for rule of law and independence of the judiciary,” the commission will today recommend that Bucharest remain under EU watch.
After being deemed to need to make more progress in judicial reform and the fight against corruption, both Romania and Bulgaria were placed on a special European Union program in the run-up to joining the bloc in 2007.
Romania had hoped the so-called Cooperation and Verification Mechanism (CVM) — involving experts to advise and police reforms in the two countries in these areas — would be lifted after five years, enabling it to join Europe’s travel-free Schengen area.
But the draft report, which an EU source said was written on Monday morning, said “a further report under the CVM” would be issued before the end of the year.
The new report will look at whether the Commission’s concerns “regarding the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary have been addressed and whether the democratic checks and balances have been restored.”