EU urges Romania to do more on corruption, justice reform

(BRUSSELS) - The European Commission urged Romania on Wednesday to do more to fight corruption and improve its justice system, but acknowledged some progress had been made since it joined the EU last year.

"Judicial reform and progress in the fight against corruption are closely interlinked. Improvements are still needed in both areas," the EU's executive branch said in a report that painted "a mixed picture" of reform standards.

The commission praised Bucharest for building up the basics of a functioning justice system but said that "the foundation is fragile and decisions on corruption are highly politicised".

It noted that the number of judges and court staff had increased, but said "there are chronic and serious staff shortages in the public ministry and recruitment practices do not always work to guarantee quality of staff."

The investigation of high-level corruption was improving, it said, however "few tangible results" of those probes have surfaced.

Romania joined the European Union on January 1, 2007 but the commission has been monitoring its progress on justice reform and combating corruption on behalf of member nations concerned about shortcomings in these areas.

The European Commission urged Bucharest to take further measures to fight corruption, in particular within local government, and establish an agency to monitor assets and conflicts of interest.