Romania - January 2023

The Group of States Against Corruption (GRECO), the Council of Europe’s anti-corruption body, found that Romania has satisfied over half of the body’s recommendations. It thus lifted Rule 32, which requires increased engagement and reporting. The findings were published as part of GRECO’s Third Interim Compliance Report, which monitors the implementation of recommendations issued in 2016 further to an evaluation on corruption prevention among MPs, judges and prosecutors. GRECO noted adequate enforcement mechanisms for MPs’ code of conduct, strengthened criteria for lifting immunity of parliamentarians, and measures designed to detect and prevent risks to the integrity of judges and prosecutors. The GRECO report underscored areas for further action. It urged improvements to the transparency of the parliamentary process, and called for new rules on how MPs engage with lobbyists and for addressing conflicts of interest.

Sources: Romania Insider, Council of Europe, European Commission