Financiarul

Asked by journalist to spell his opinion about senator Voicu’s case, remanded in custody, Germany Ambassador to Bucharest Andreas von Mettenheim declined to voice an opinion, affirming he does not know this case file details. He noted that the fact that the senator will be brought to justice „is looked as a very positive element as regards the justice reform in Romania”.

Moreover, the Ambassador of Germany emphasized that Romania must make progress not only in the fight against corruption, but also in the civil society domain.
„I think that the Minister of Justice makes all efforts to this end, and the interim report on justice showed that progress has been made.

The European Commission said that there is less progress than expected, but nevertheless we speak about some progress and I think that the final report, to be published this summer, is to acknowledge more progress made by Romania. We want to support Romania, we have a lot of experts here,, assisting Romania and it is not a question of goodwill, but of money and infrastructure”, added Andreas von Mettenheim.

In his turn, the Ambassador of Great Britain, Robert Barnett, declined to comment „Romania’s home affairs”, but pointed out that the country has made a significant progress in the field of justice.
„We steadily provided bilateral assistance in this reform process but, as you know, the European Commission underlined that there is still a lot to do and we are going to further back up this reform process”, Robert Barnett also said.

France’s Ambassador Henri Paul noted, in his turn, Romania’s progress in justice field. „I support Minister Catalin Predoiu in his actions, he is a very capable man and does a very good job, and we are also aware that a lot of persistence is needed in such fields. The fight against corruption is not an easy one. Many states are affected by it, not Romania alone. As you know, there is the Mechanism of Cooperation and Verification of the European Commission and Romania must fight with its own means against corruption”, said Henri Pasul.

„I do not want to comment an individual case because they are justice case files and I am no judge, solely a representative of a friendly and allied country with Romania, glad to assess each time Romania’s progress”, added the diplomat. The three ambassadors were present on Tuesday evening in an exhibition dedicated to 130 years since the establishment of diplomatic relations with Romania.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Romania’s National Archives, together with the Embassy of the French Republic, the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany and the Embassy of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to Bucharest have organized on Tuesday an exhibition, dedicated to the anniversary of 130 years since the establishment of diplomatic relations with Romania. The event took place in Romania’s National Archives, in the presence of the Diplomatic Corps representatives, as well as of the civil society representatives and of the mass-media.