Press Release on the MCV Report issued by the European Commission in July 2012

Transparency International Romania takes note of the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism Report developed by the European Commission and joins the report`s conclusion that it is necessary to continue the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism even more since during the monitoring period (2007 – 2012), there have been reported many serious cases of corruption that have not received an adequate response from the law enforcement institutions.

This year's report pays an even deeper attention to issues of implementation and impact of the anticorruption measures than the simple quantification of the results declared by the Bucharest authorities during these years. Also, the use of the analyses conducted by Transparency International Romania on the National Integrity System and the Study on statutes of limitation for corruption offences is welcomed. "This even more, since the studies are relevant in the context in which in recent years corruption has become a widespread phenomenon affecting sectors such as energy market, the extractive industry, public procurement of local and central administration, auctions on infrastructure works, customs and tax evasion, idea affirmed even by some Romanian officials” considers Victor Alistar - Executive Director of TI-Romania. Transparency International Romania draws attention on the delays in some cases of corruption investigation of former ministers and officials of Parliament regarding which law enforcement agencies make no mention. Examples are welcome but insufficient from this perspective, and are subject of interpretation in political disputes. "Assessing the impact of measures taken may be made only to the extent that they have generated representative results," said Iulia Coşpănaru, Director TI-Romania.

Perception studies conducted by Transparency International within the last years reflect growth of corruption both from the perspective of business community (CPI) and citizens at large (GCB), showing that public authorities give an unsatisfactory response to legitimate society`s demands for integrity and legality. "Regardless the political colour of the governmental coalitions, a strong political decision is needed in order to address and redress the integrity issues of the Romanian public sector, as only a local, national and European governance based on integrity can ensure sustainable development, increase the quality of life and guarantee the state of law" says Marian Popa, president of TI-Romania.

As a result of the foregoing, TI-Romania considers that the priorities to be addressed are:

•  Speeding up the judicial reviews of former officials accused of corruption by media investigations, and informing the public on starting and closing cases, regardless of political affiliation of the officials under investigation
•  The concrete application of measures to enhance transparency of spending public resources, in order to prevent recurrence of serious corruption
•  Modification of the reduced penalties stipulated by the new Penal Code, to ensure an effective sanction of corruption
•  The National Anticorruption Directorate should take action without prior plaint on the findings of the Court of Auditors and of the internal public audit conducted in the local and central government if they find abusive spending of public resources.
•  Unpartisan information of the public opinion, both regarding the initiation of corruption investigations, their development, implementation and final results, which will ensure confidence of the public and the business environment in the actual determination of combating corruption in Romania and abolish accusations of use of anticorruption agencies as instruments in the political struggle

A detailed analysis of the recommendations in Technical Annex of Report will be accomplished with the publication of the National Corruption Report which will be launched on July 24, 2012, in Bucharest.