Romania's center-right Government drafted and passed a memorandum to meet the European Commission's requirements under the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism (CVM), which establishes an "ambitious" timetable, prime minister Florin Citu announced on Wednesday, January 20.

The European Commission's experts will evaluate the judicial reforms planned by Romania, via videoconference, on January 25 and 26.

"The coalition promises this and will take quick steps to complete the CVM. We are naturally speaking of the justice laws. The memorandum includes a firm timetable for the Government, together with the ruling majority in Parliament, to settle this issue […] based on the recommendations [of the EC]. It is an ambitious calendar. We are trying [to meet the targets] by June," PM Citu stated, quoted by G4media.ro.

The CVM was imposed on Romania and Bulgaria in 2007 when they joined the European Union to monitor the two countries' progress in justice reform and fight against corruption and organized crime.

The European Commission (EC), in its latest CVM report in October 2019, said that Bulgaria had made sufficient progress while criticizing Romania for backsliding.

The National Liberal Party (PNL) formed a minority Government immediately after this, replacing the Social Democrats (PSD), but it could not pursue the necessary reforms because of insufficient support in Parliament.

However, from December 2020, PNL and its reformist ally USR-PLUS are backed by a majority (although fragile) in Parliament, which allows them to push the needed reforms.

(Photo: Gov.ro)

andrei@romania-insider.com