Interesting pronouncements from the European Commission coming in today for Romania and Bulgaria. It looks like the Commission will once again criticize the lack of progress in fighting corruption and in the administration of justice in the EU’s newest members. However, it looks like Bulgaria will be chastised worse this time, due to mismanaging European funds (basically financing political campaigns from offshore bank accounts instead of giving Sapard money to Bulgarian farmers), with two huge operational programmes most likely to be interrupted in Bulgaria. When it comes to Bulgaria the allegations of their deputy prime minister against the Commission for leaking off information to the media (the Bulgarian official saying it is this tip-off that will affect Bulgaria’s image abroad, not the corruption itself) seem to me most strange.
Romania on the other hand has made progress in establishing the National Integrity Agency and in fighting corruption, but not in amending the Code of Criminal Procedure, or in fighting high-level corruption. Pretty much like an inquisitive child, the Commission does not understand why the Romanian Parliament has to approve corruption investigations against an MP. Oh Brussels, you’re so naive! You can read more about it here and I’ll update this entry as soon as the Commission issues its official statement. In the meantime, you can “enjoy” a very critical article in the Financial Times on Romania’s politicians and on how the EU was gradually disarmed by a calculating local elite well versed in simulating change. Tom Gallagher, the author of the article, has written brilliant books on recent Romanian history and will publish, in 2009, a book on Romania and the EU, titled “How the Weak Vanquished the Strong”. Overall, his verdict is interestingly blaming the EU for its failures to address the Romanian issue: The fact that Britain and the Netherlands find themselves isolated inside the EU in calling for tough action against corruption driven from the top in Romania is a crushing indictment of the EU’s inability to stand up for basic standards of governance that are surely indispensable if it hopes to survive as a force for influence in the world.
It’s amazing to me that NO ONE has bothered to question why the EU Rapporteur to Romania, Baroness Emma Nicholson, could issue reports saying that all was well with Romania and their accession to the EU. Instead of focusing on insisting that Romania establish courts for juveniles (there’s only 1 in the entire country), clean up corruption from the top to the bottom, and demand education for all citizens – regardless of their ethnicity, she chose to battle the defenseless and those with no voice – foreign adoptive parents and abandoned children.
Yesterday allegations were made publicly that Nicholson was paid 1 million euros by the former PM and President, to write positive EU reports on Romania. Rumor has it that billionaire Ion Tiriac “contributed”, along with funding her private charity anonymously – which is paid by the Romanian government to do reports on child welfare and institutions for the abandoned and disabled (ALWAYS positive reports!).
Yes, I totally agree, thanks for the info. I am also looking for more information, is there anywhere specific I should be looking, I google it and I struggle