Romania’s judicial reform plans prompt anti-corruption backlash

Romanian president called proposed reforms an ‘attack on the rule of law.’

BUCHAREST — Romanian Justice Minister Tudorel Toader proposed changes to three laws Wednesday, prompting accusations from the Romanian president and opposition parties that the government was attempting an “attack on the rule of law” and was following in the footsteps of the Polish government.

The proposals come just seven months after the biggest protests since the fall of communism in the country forced Romania’s Social Democrat (PSD) government to scrap an emergency decree about the definition of abuse of office, which was widely seen as a way to decriminalize some acts of corruption.

This time, there’s controversy over one of Toader’s main proposals, which is to scrap the president’s authority to appoint the top anti-corruption prosecutor.

The job is currently held by Laura Codruţa Kövesi, who leads the National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA). Kövesi has overseen the prosecution of numerous high-level politicians, including former Prime Minister Victor Ponta. Last year, 30 high-ranking officials were indicted on corruption-related charges, including former energy and transport ministers as well as the deputy governor of Romania’s central bank.

Kövesi has, however, come under heavy criticism from politicians, who accuse her of pursuing a politically-motivated agenda and of relying on intelligence agencies to gather evidence.

Toader’s proposed change, which still has to be approved by the Romanian government and the parliament, would see the justice minister nominate a candidate to lead the DNA, who would then be appointed by the Superior Magistrates Council. The president currently has the authority to appoint the prosecutor, based on a proposal from the justice minister and the opinion of the council.

Toader said his reform proposals are for laws from 2004 that need updating, especially since Romania became an EU member country in the meantime.

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He also said his proposal to take the president out of the procedure for picking the anti-corruption leader is in line with the demands of a European Commission program monitoring Romania’s progress in tackling corruption since it joined the EU in 2007. The program, known as the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism, “requires a transparent way to name prosecutors to their jobs” and recommends that there be no political involvement in it, Toader said.

Romanian President Klaus Iohannis condemned the proposals in a statement, saying that it is not the president who provides the political element in the appointment procedure, but rather the justice minister, who is appointed based on a vote in parliament.

“The proposals presented today by the minister of justice constitute an attack on the rule of law, the independence and proper functioning of the judiciary, as well as the anti-corruption fight,” Iohannis said. If these measures pass, “Romania’s efforts for more than 10 years would be cancelled and the justice [system] will go back in time,” to an era when it was under political control, he said.

The Romanian president is involved in the appointment of chief prosecutors because he is in charge of mediating between the powers of the state, Iohannis added.

Elek Levente, the interim president of the Union Save Romania, the second largest opposition party in the parliament, said it was “revolting” that Toader was using the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism, which is meant to eliminate political involvement in the justice system, to do exactly the opposite. “The return of justice under political control brings Romania closer to the Polish model, where the ruling party attempted a total seizure of the judiciary through a legislative coup,” Levente said.

His party will start a no-confidence vote against the justice minister, which is unlikely to topple Toader, since the governing PSD and its junior coalition partner, the liberal democrat ALDE, enjoy majority support in the parliament.

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker has said that he wants to end Romania’s anti-corruption monitoring mechanism by the end of his mandate in 2019 if the country can prove that its progress in fighting corruption will stick.