Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07BUCHAREST747
2007-06-27 15:46:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Bucharest
Cable title:  

EC FRUSTRATED BY NEW ROMANIAN CORRUPTION AGENCY'S

Tags:  PGOV KCOR KJUS PREL RO 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO7398
PP RUEHDBU RUEHFL RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHROV RUEHSR
DE RUEHBM #0747/01 1781546
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 271546Z JUN 07
FM AMEMBASSY BUCHAREST
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 6907
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUEAWJA/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHDC
RHMCSUU/FBI WASHINGTON DC
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 BUCHAREST 000747 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

STATE DEPT FOR EUR/NCE

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/20/2017
TAGS: PGOV KCOR KJUS PREL RO
SUBJECT: EC FRUSTRATED BY NEW ROMANIAN CORRUPTION AGENCY'S
FACADE

REF: A) BUCHAREST 574 B) BUCHAREST 556 C) BUCHAREST

491 D) BUCHAREST 469

Classified By: Political Counselor Ted Tanoue FOR REASONS 1.4 (B) & (D)

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 BUCHAREST 000747

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

STATE DEPT FOR EUR/NCE

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/20/2017
TAGS: PGOV KCOR KJUS PREL RO
SUBJECT: EC FRUSTRATED BY NEW ROMANIAN CORRUPTION AGENCY'S
FACADE

REF: A) BUCHAREST 574 B) BUCHAREST 556 C) BUCHAREST

491 D) BUCHAREST 469

Classified By: Political Counselor Ted Tanoue FOR REASONS 1.4 (B) & (D)


1. (C) Summary. Romania's National Integrity Agency (ANI),
the last major anti-corruption effort that the GOR promised
before acceding to the EU, was formally established last
month. While the European Commission is unhappy with
Romanian backsliding in the fight against corruption, its
monitoring report on Romania and Bulgaria to be released on
June 27 will hold off from imposing any sanctions, while
continuing the EC's current monitoring of Romania's Justice
system. After some public--and reportedly heated
private--comments from EC Vice President Franco Frattini
expressing frustration with the watered-down ANI law, Justice
Minister Tudor Chiuariu amended the law through an emergency
ordinance after the law was published in an attempt to
respond to those concerns. Despite the last-minute
cosmetics, the amended ANI law along with Chiuariu's attempt
to dismiss a top anti-corruption prosecutor, have continued
to raise concerns about the current Romanian government's
commitment to fighting corruption. President Basescu,
whatever his flaws, appears to be one of the few high-level
Romanian politicians willing to push on the anticorruption
issue. End summary.


2. (C) The National Integrity Agency (ANI) was touted
publicly by Justice Minister Tudor Chiuariu and Prime
Minister Calin Popescu Tariceanu as evidence of the
Liberal-led government's continuing commitment to
anticorruption efforts. At the time when newly appointed
Justice Minister Chiuariu called for the dismissal of the
National Anticorruption Directorate's (DNA) chief prosecutor
of high-level corruption cases, Doru Tulus (reftel A),
Chiuariu rushed through parliament the law establishing the
ANI. Chiuariu claimed that passage of the ANI law was proof
he was "more effective" than former Justice Minister Monica
Macovei in working with parliament to pass this long-promised
law that was a key criteria for Romania's EU accession. The

Senate overwhelmingly adopted the ANI law May 9, and Senate
President Vacaroiu (PSD) claimed it was his greatest
accomplishment while acting as Interim President during the
month-long suspension of President Basescu. European
observers, however, were unimpressed. According to many
observers, the new law actually prevents the National
Integrity Agency from fulfilling its original intent of
providing a public check on the rampant growth of officials'
wealth while in office.

EU's Limited Influence
--------------


3. (C) The first major change in the law establishing ANI
was the change of one key word, "unjustified," to "illicit."
According to anticorruption experts, the Integrity Agency was
originally intended to shed light on the "grey area" of
officials' accumulation of wealth while in office. It was not
to have prosecutorial responsibility to prove the "illicit"
sources of the assets gained, but to determine whether wealth
had grown beyond an official's ability to justify from
legitimate income. Any sanction would be left up to the state
body that the official belonged to, and officials had the
right to challenge the ANI's findings in court. Dragos
Tudorache, the EC Delegation's former task manager on
corruption who just moved to the EC's Directorate General for
Justice in Brussels, characterized the word change as "a sly
lawyer's trick" that would put "the burden on the ANI to
prove the illegal nature of the assets." As to how the EU
would respond, Tudorache predicted little more than "cautious
diplomatic language from the EU," noting that the Europeans
would be loath to create the impression of interference in
Romanian internal politics. However, EC Justice
Commissioner Franco Frattini subsequently underlined in a
newspaper interview that he had "already discussed twice"
with Justice Minister Chiuariu his concerns about violating
the DNA prosecutors' independence and about the modifications
of the ANI legislation. He added that he would "analyze in
detail" the ANI law since it was "adopted in a different
version than officials in Brussels expected."


4. (C) In response to this pressure, Chiuariu introduced an
emergency ordinance on May 28 that, among the other changes
which Chiuariu publicly touted as strengthening the law,
quietly changed the text back to "unjustified." European
officials, however, viewed this concession as a temporary fix
that could be undone easily whenever the emergency ordinance
would be brought before the parliament for a vote. One

BUCHAREST 00000747 002 OF 003


British diplomat responsible for justice and home affairs
asked PolOff, "Do they take us for fools?" noting how the
Liberal government was openly touting the mangled National
Integrity Agency as the primary successful example of its
commitment to continuing anticorruption efforts.

Potemkin Facade
--------------


5. (C) Former Justice Ministry Anticorruption Director Laura
Stefan, who resigned in protest to the Justice Minister's
actions against the DNA (ref A) told PolOff about other
changes that would hinder the Integrity Agency from
functioning effectively. While the original version enabled
whistleblowers to remain anonymous when notifying the Agency
of officials' conspicuous growth in wealth, the law now
limits notification to "interested persons," i.e.
specifically identified persons who have some financial
interest involving the official. Further, the new law
prevents investigation of officials who have left office,
which means investigations of their asset growth while in
office must cease as soon as they leave.


6. (C) The new law also subordinates the Integrity Agency to
the Senate. Thus, rather than making it an independent body
which can hold parliamentarians accountable, the ANI is now
accountable to the Senate instead. The Senate will appoint
the ANI's board, and the new law defines conflict of interest
in terms of the "first degree" - a parent or a child - rather
than the prior "second degree," which included siblings and
other relatives. Stefan insisted that the only part of the
law that was not completely toothless was the definition of
"incompatibilities," the private functions officials cannot
maintain while holding certain offices. However, Stefan
added that parliamentarians exempted the function of lawyer
from parliamentarians' incompatibilities, enabling them to
practice law privately while writing laws publicly.


7. (C) Former MOJ State Secretary Ionut Codescu, who also
recently resigned from his position in protest, told PolOff
and RLA on May 16 that the law also restricts the ANI to
investigating assets only with the consent of the person in
question; otherwise it is limited to just reviewing
officials' declarations of assets. He added that it was
former Justice Minister Macovei who requested the EC to
continue monitoring Romania's progress in justice after EU
accession, since the backlash against anticorruption reforms
was clearly visible well before accession and the then
Justice Minister thought only external pressure could enable
further reform.

EU's June 27 Monitoring Report: Continue Monitoring
--------------


8. (C) The EC Delegation's DCM Onno Simons told PolOff that
Chiuariu's National Integrity Agency was a "non-starter" in
fulfilling the EC benchmark for monitoring progress in
Romania's justice system. Simons claimed his progress
report to the EC, which forms the basis for the EC's June 27
Monitoring Report on Romania, outlined 8-9 areas of
difficulty with the current law. He described the ANI as
"perhaps not a paper tiger, but a cardboard one." Simons said
that "belatedly" there was "some pressure from five member
states" who previously argued to "let Romania in...with
homework," but who "now see serious political problems."
While Simons said the conclusions of the Monitoring Report
had not been drawn, he added that "verifications of
benchmarks will go on" and that all four of Romania's
benchmarks would remain. He said Romanian European
Commissioner Leonard Orban was also concerned.

Basescu Continuing to Push Reform Agenda
--------------


9. (C) In a June 7 meeting with a visiting U.S. delegation,
Presidential Counselor Teodor Baconschi argued that "new
political leadership was needed" in order "to make Romania a
valid member state in the EU." He argued that the "heritage
of the Communist regime was present everywhere" and that "we
can't go forward with it." He said President Basescu was
working hard to get a clearer formula for governing Romania,
commenting "We can't stand this political crisis enduring
until the next (parliamentary) elections in late 2008 or
early 2009." Baconschi said that despite the appearance of a
personal conflict between the President and Prime Minister,
it was "the result of an unclear Constitution and the
political system we got after communism."


BUCHAREST 00000747 003 OF 003



10. (C) Baconschi also noted the need to promote a "soft
political revolution" as the 1989 Revolution was "a false
one, stolen by the nomenclatura." As an aside, Baconschi
blamed Western complicity, asking rhetorically, "What are you
doing with false friends?" He said Romania needed to become
a "new state without dangerous connections between big money
and state institutions." He asserted there were "Four to six
very strong people behind the current Tariceanu government,
controlling everything in this country." He added that he
believed Basescu was the "right person at the right time" to
achieve this "soft revolution" as he was the head of state,
Romania's most popular politician, and one who had taken on
"a personal mantle" to attack the oligarchs and high-level
corruption.


11. (C) Comment: The GOR is now rushing to actually set up
the National Integrity Agency by the fall. However, this
exercise appears little more than a half-hearted effort to
fulfill a commitment to the EU in a way that does not
seriously threaten the traditional propensity of the Romanian
political class to mix business and politics. Informed
Western observers have been unimpressed with the GOR's latest
efforts. But as confirmed in the release of the long-awaited
report on June 27, the EC wields no stick that can
effectively sanction backsliding, apart from continuing its
monitoring activities and offering public and private
criticism. The majority of the current parliament was pleased
by Macovei's removal and not discontent with the more
predictable Chiuariu. President Basescu appears to be the
only major political actor willing to push on the
anticorruption front, as evidenced by his effective use of
the issue during his campaign to return to office following
his suspension. End Comment.

TAUBMAN
TAUBMAN