EU-freshman Romania has a great record on corrupt politics, oligarch-style governing and no respect for the rule of law. As if the 45 years of communism hadn’t been bad enough, 12 years of post-communist ruling under apparatchik Ion Iliescu hampered reforms, perpetuated an oligarch-style ruling and maintained a justice system functioning as an enforcer of political commandos, with no perspective whatsoever to become a truly independent one.
Up until 1999, Romania didn’t even have a clear European perspective. The Helsinki Summit in December 1999 which granted Romania the status of a candidate country was merely due to pressure from the US after the Romanian President Emil Constantinescu (elected 1996 and facing serious sabotage-attempts by Iliescu, who came back to power in 2000) granted overflight rights to NATO aircrafts in the Kosovo war,
2004 marked a change of government many had already given up hope for. Although the parliamentary elections were won by the same post-communist party (PSD) by a narrow margin, the presidential ones shifted completly. Instead of Iliescu’s Prime Minister and heir, Adrian Nastase and in spite of some fraud attempts, the opposition leader Traian Basescu became the first "orange" president, with a clear anti-corruption agenda, promising to get Romania into the EU by 2007. By then, this was seen as an optimist view, the new Enlargement commissioner Olli Rehn being very tough on corruption and stating clearly that he "would not hesitate" to postpone Romania’s accession by one year. He was exactly the opposite of his predecessor, Gunther Verheugen, whose ties to the PM and presidential wannabe Nastase even made him step over his attributions as an impartial EU commissioner: just days before election day, Verheugen predicted that Geoana (by then Foreign Minister) will be the next Prime Minister, thus suggesting that Nastase will win the presidential elections. He even announced an earlier than expected closing of accession negotiations, despite lingering problems in the field of Justice and Home Affairs (high level corruption, lack of independence and accountability), as well as Competition (with state aides being attributed by party loyalty).
The reform of the Justice system and the fight against corruption, especially first cases of high-level corruption, became the main focus of Basescu’s mandate and subsequently of his government, led by PM Calin Popescu Tariceanu. A bold reformist Justice Minister, Monica Macovei, not politically affiliated, soon became the champion of the reforms, broadly acclaimed by the European Commission and member states. Justice Commissioner Franco Frattini even stated that "A big part of the success of Romanian accession will have been achieved thanks to Ms. Macovei". The first "big cases" started with former PM Adrian Nastase and his wife, both on trial for corruption, but continued with members of the current government, such as former vice-PM George Copos or former Economy Minister Codrut Seres.
Even if Romania is a EU member since Jan 1st, it still has to carry out the judicial reforms and has a set of "benchmarks" in this regard. The first deadline is soon coming up, March 31st, when Romania must submit to the European Commission a report on its progress. But despite Mrs. Macovei’s commitment, the Parliament has subsequently tried to water down her projects and even voted a motion against her, asking for her resignation. Macovei warned as early as the beginning of January that after EU-accession, Romania’s clampdown on corruption is slowing down, her own PM showing "the wish of non-involvement". A key-agency for investigating conflicts of interests, one of the 4 benchmarks due this year, is being constantly delayed in the Romanian Parliament, whose main occupation right now is to find ways to impeach the President. With very low approval rates in the polls and in a constant open war with the President, the PM has decided to postpone until autumn the elections for the European Parliament scheduled for May 13. The President himself makes no secret out of his non-approval towards the Premier, engaging in a true media-war in this respect.
For investors and businessmen, this looks rather grim: after the European elections in autumn follow the parliamentary ones in spring 2008 and then the presidential ones in 2009. Time for reforms and clampdown on corruption and red tape? Rather unlikely.
When visiting Bucharest yesterday, US deputy assistant secretary of Commerce Paul Dyck encouraged the Romanian government to continue the reforms. Here are the US’ recommendations:
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First, Romania must continue to exert significant efforts to eradicate corruption’s influence in the economy. This means corrupt officials, at all levels, must be held accountable for their actions.
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Second, intellectual property rights must be enforced and protected. Not only should counterfeit goods be seized, but their producers and distributors must be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Only then, will there be a real deterrent to further IPR infringements.
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Third, Romania’s judicial system must be modernized so that judges and prosecutors understand not only the necessity of protecting intellectual property rights, but also of enforcing contracts and operating in a timely and efficient manner. Court decisions must be made in a transparently and in a reasonable amount of time.
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Finally, government decisions, including procurements, should be made in a transparent manner. Laws and regulations should be drafted so that companies and effected parties have adequate opportunity to comment and provide input.
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Mar 14th, 2007
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