Financiarul

 

Dutch ambassador in Bucharest Jaap Werner told weekly Capital in an interview carried in the latest issue that he does not believe the European Commission will activate the justice safeguard against Romania. In the interview, Werner talks about the things Romania still has to do in the area of justice.

 

The European Commission is expected this July to release a report on Romania’s progress in the area of justice reform, and the Netherlands is one of the European Union member states that would favour the activation of the justice safeguard against Romania if Romania is judged to have failed to meet its commitments in the area of justice reform.

 

First of all, he says, I do not expect Brussels to activate the clause, which would be important because of its political significance. That would be a strong signal from the European Commission to Romania that things are not going on well in Romania; that is why we hope this will not happen, said the ambassador.

 

Werner warns that the non-activation of the safeguard clause in this July’s report does not exclude the possibility of the clause being activated in future reports, if appropriate and if the pace of reform slows down or the achievements are irrelevant. He says it all depends of the contents of the European Commission’s report this July.

 

He also says the Netherlands is interested in helping Romania making it so that the law will rule.

 

When Romania became a full member state of the European Union on January 1, 2007, a cooperation and verification mechanism was put in place to make sure reform in Romania’s judiciary will continues, Werner explains. I believe this to be a balanced mechanism because, on the one hand the European Commission and the EU member states monitor the developments in reforms and the on site situation is reported to the capitals of the member states. On the other hand, this is not just staying away and criticising, but stepping in and cooperate. The Netherlands, he says, is working together with Romanian partners on projects and programmes for reforming Romania’s judiciary in an attempt to increase access of Romanian judges to the European jurisprudence and discuss integrity with Romanian magistrates.

 

The Dutch diplomat argues that the first year in Romania’s full EU membership was not quite well for the Romanian justice, but justice reforms were boosted, only to halt in 2008. In his opinion, the society must have relaxed a little satisfied that Romania belongs now to the EU area.
Werner voices satisfaction that early this year the Romanian Government paid careful attention to the report of the European Commission of this January. At the same time, he commends Romanian Prime Minister Calin Popescu-Tariceanu for having invited all the stakeholders to discuss the issue – parliamentarians and officials of the Supreme Council of Magistrates (CSM).

 

Werner also says Romania’s new Justice Minister Catalin Predoiu seems to approach the issues correctly and get engaged in supporting the reform processes, and that CSM has become more involved.

 

The reform of the judiciary, says Werner, is always a delicate issue. It takes time to increase the number and quality of judges. I have reported to the Hague that this year the Romanian Government became more active, but the weak spot in the reform process is Romania’s Parliament.

 

Werner also believes the prosecution has made significant progress of late. In his opinion, the problem with the Romanian judges are their small number and unsatisfactory quality, arguing that a judge in Romania has to de more by far than their counterparts in other European Union member states. It all has to start with improving court management, he says, and another issue would be the appointment of judges. I believe many of the shortcomings have been ironed out, says Werner.