Romania fully implemented only two of 26 previous recommendations, GRECO report finds

In a report published on Tuesday, August 5, the Group of States against Corruption, or GRECO, said that Romania has fully implemented two of the 26 recommendations made in the 2023 Fifth Round Evaluation Report on preventing corruption and promoting integrity among top executive functions of the central government and law enforcement.

Out of the other recommendations, 22 have been partially implemented, and two remain unimplemented.

On the other side, Law no. 49/2025 in April 2025, which has introduced ethics and conduct norms for government members, has been an advance. Further measures such as guidelines, training, confidential counselling, monitoring, and enforcement are needed for its full implementation.

A code of conduct for the Presidential Administration has also been adopted and published. Nevertheless, complementary rules are still needed.

"Although there appear to be rules governing interactions with lobbyists and third parties, disclosure of such contacts is lacking. The president, prime minister, and presidential advisors are not subject to the obligation to disclose ad hoc conflicts of interest, an obligation that applies to other individuals in executive leadership positions. The Presidential Administration continues to publish the gift register, while the Prime Minister's Office and ministries still do not do so," says the report adopted at the 100th plenary meeting, which took place on June 3–6 in Strasbourg.

Other positive developments include an increased prosecutorial capacity for corruption offences for the National Anticorruption Directorate and the launch of new tools to check assets and interest disclosures.

Nevertheless, further progress is needed in carrying out effective integrity checks for top executive functions, revising the current integrity framework, establishing a dedicated oversight mechanism of the access-to-information legislation, limiting the use of emergency ordinances, introducing post-employment restrictions, and ensuring better public consultations.

Regarding law enforcement, GRECO welcomes several improvements, such as the fact that the Gendarmerie now has a dedicated webpage for the publication of all donations, a unified draft code of ethics for both the Police and the Gendarmerie is underway, a comprehensive training curriculum in the field of integrity has been developed, and integrity checks are conducted during initial recruitment.

Furthermore, a centralized recruitment portal has been launched, and whistleblower protections have been aligned with national law.