EC 2024 Rule of Law Report points to progress and challenges in Romania's justice reform

The European Commission's 2024 Rule of Law Report, detailing the state of governance and legal frameworks in Romania, highlights both progress and ongoing challenges in the country's rule of law environment.

Romania has made significant strides, particularly with the formal closure of the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism (CVM) in September 2023. This closure was a result of Romania satisfactorily fulfilling all benchmarks and recommendations set by the mechanism.

However, the European Commission continues to monitor the rule of law in Romania, as it does for all EU member states.

According to the EC report, Romania has made some progress in addressing recommendations from the Venice Commission concerning Justice Laws. These steps focus on implementation, reflecting a commitment to judicial reform.

Despite these efforts, the justice system still faces challenges, such as vacancies that could impact its quality and efficiency over time.

On a positive note, digitalization within the justice system has seen significant improvement.

The 2021-2025 Anti-Corruption Strategy remains on track, with authorities maintaining a positive track record in combating high-level corruption. Nevertheless, the legislative response to the statute of limitations issue has been slow, resulting in the closure of numerous corruption cases and annulments of convictions.

Media freedom and pluralism in Romania continue to face obstacles. Although the legal framework for media is strong, issues such as political interference and insufficient funding for public service media persist.

Additionally, the transparency of media ownership remains a concern, with difficulties for the public to ascertain ultimate ownership beyond the audiovisual sector.

Also, Romania has made no progress in introducing rules on lobbying for Members of Parliament.

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