EC: Romania shows regress in the irreversibility of reforms

Romania has registered a regress in proving the irreversibility of reforms, which might have affected the chances of lifting the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism (CVM) until the end of the current European Commission mandate, as previously promised by the EC President Jean-Claude Juncker, said yesterday the spokesperson of the European Commission, Margaritis Schinas. One year ago, Juncker promised former Romanian MP Dacian Ciolos to soon lift the CVM. “What matters is not the irreversibility of promise, but the irreversibility of reforms so that the promise is kept,” said Schinas. The European Commission’s warning comes after the Romanian Government passed on January 31 a controversial emergency ordinance that partly decriminalized some corruption offences. The Government repealed the ordinance on Sunday after massive protests in Romania and negative reactions from the country’s international partners, including the European Commission. On Monday, Frans Timmermans, first vice president of the European Commission, told the Romanian Foreign Affairs Minister Teodor Melescanu that combating corruption should continue in Romania. “The European Commission is ready to work with Romania to update the objectives of the Mechanism of Cooperation and Verification (MVC)”, said EC spokesman. EC will continue to monitor Romania’s justice reform under the CVM until process irreversible editor@romania-insider.com