The European Commission’s report on Romania under the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism (CVM) released on Tuesday acknowledges for the first time the fulfillment of the recommendations and benchmarks, as set forth in the Decision to set up the CVM, adopted at the time of Romania’s EU accession, and encourages the government to continue the course established for supporting the independence of the judiciary and the fight against corruption in a sustainable manner and with good subsequent results, Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca said, according to Agerpres.

„For the government of Romania, this report and the developments it entails encourage us to continue the course defined for supporting the independence of the judiciary and the fight against corruption in a sustainable manner and with continued good results, for the benefit of the Romanian society. All this is essential because they answer the expectations of Romanian citizens. Based on today’s report, Romania’s monitoring will take place just like in the case of the other EU member states, through the European general Rule of Law Mechanism,” Ciuca wrote in a post on the government’s Facebook page.

He emphasized that the report is also a recognition and a confirmation at European level of the fact that the direction of reforms the Executive has consistently followed in the last period is „the right one”.

According to the Prime Minister, given that the Commission’s assessment is not based on recent developments alone, but „obviously (…) on a sustained build-up of progress Romania has made ever since the establishment of the CVM, we have an important recognition of the maturity attained in the functioning of the competent institutions.”

The head of the Executive added that the EC document also reflects the consolidation of Romania’s European status.

„We didn’t travel this path alone. We have constantly benefited from the very pragmatic cooperation with the European Commission’s experts. The competent Romanian authorities have maintained a cordial and constructive dialogue with them, which will be continued on the same basis of openness and trust within the relevant European horizontal instruments. 15 years after accession, the conclusions of the report reflect Romania’s efforts and the entry into a logic of consolidating our European status. We remain firmly anchored in Romania’s clear and long-term pro-European vision, a European vision based on unity, democracy, rule of law and values equally shared by all member states, based on the same instruments,” the Prime Minister wrote.

Agerpres