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Southeast Europe
November 17, 2017 www.intellinews.com I Page 17
The EC’s concern is not surprising considering the events of this year, and the repeated efforts by the government to weaken anti-corruption legislation to allow top officials to avoid prosecution.
Back in January, the government adopted an emergency ordinance to decriminalise certain corruption offences, such as abuse of office.
The move lead to the biggest anti-government protests in Romania since the fall of communism, with 500,000 people on the streets at their peak. Giving in to street pressure, the government repealed the ordinance.
More recently, around 20,000 people protested in Bucharest on November 5 against planned changes to legislation which are seen as increasing political control over the judiciary.
“Some of the proposed changes ... touch on judicial independence ... changes raised questions about whether the January 2017
report assessment with regard to progress
on the independence of the judicial system would have to be reconsidered,” the report noted.
Meanwhile, in Bulgaria, Prime Minister
Boyko Borissov’s government has proposed amendments to several laws after taking office
in May, hoping to get a better assessment by the EC. Although these efforts have been praised, the Commission noted that the Bulgarian authorities failed in terms of transparency.
"We have seen progress in many areas but
there is still more work needed. Bulgaria
has met or made progress on several of our recommendations, but not yet all. I count on
the Bulgarian government to implement all the planned reforms, and to avoid backtracking, so that we can move towards the goal of ending the CVM under this Commission's mandate,” the EC’s First Vice-President Frans Timmermans said in a statement upon issuing the reports.
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