New CVM report on Romania, discussed today

The European Commission will discuss today the most recent Cooperation and Verification Mechanism (CVM) report on Romania and Bulgaria, ten years after establishing the mechanism. The Commission members will first discuss the report on Bulgaria, and then the CVM report on Romania. Romanian presidential adviser Leonard Orban, a former EU Commissioner, told Digi24 yesterday that the discussions on Romania would point out to the recent emergency ordinance drafts on pardoning convicts and changing the criminal law. He added that he expects a positive report. Last year’s CVM report on Romania praised the country’s progress in the fight against corruption. However, the recent legislative initiatives of the new Government and Parliament may weaken the country’s anticorruption efforts. EC spokesperson Margaritis Schinas yesterday reaffirmed the commitment of the EC president Jean Claude-Juncker to lift this mechanism by the end of his mandate in October 2019. The Cooperation and Verification Mechanism, imposed on Romania and Bulgaria, monitors the progress of the two EU member states in judicial reforms and the fight against corruption. Sofia and Bucharest accepted CVM in the mid-2000s, as a prerequisite for their accession to the EU on January 1, 2007. EC Deputy Secretary General: CVM on Romania won’t be lifted this year editor@romania-insider.com