The Romanian Parliament enters the European Union. The legislative’s capacity to be an active European actor
The Romanian Centre for European Policies (CRPE) has launched the report “The Romanian Parliament enters the European Union. The legislative’s capacity to be an active European actor” during a conference which took place at the Romanian Senate on 8 December 2010.
The conference presentations can be downloaded here:
- Siegfried Mureşan – “The legislative’s involvement in European affairs – the case of Germany”
- Andrei Mocearov, Director, Community Law Directorate, Chamber of Deputies – “Procedures of parliamentary control of European affairs”
- Amalia Răduţ, Director, European Affairs Directorate, Senate – “European affairs coordination procedures in the Romanian Senate”
The report “The Romanian Parliament enters the European Union. The legislative’s capacity to be an active European actor” appeared within the project “Consolidating the Parliament’s capacity to be an active European actor” implemented by the Romanian Centre for European Policies together with the Friedrich Ebert Foundation in Romania.
9 December 2010
Ten Years from Now. Development and Economic Governance in Europe
The European Commission Representation in Romania and the Romanian Center for European Policies (CRPE) organized the international conference "Ten years from now. European Economic Development and Governance. " The event set out to discuss recent developments at the European level with respect to the European Commission initiative to strengthen European economic governance, in order to achieve the objectives of the Europe 2020 strategy.
The conference brought together representatives of public authorities and Member States embassies in Romania, representatives of specialized European think tanks, members of civil society and academics. Among the participants we name here the European Commissioner for Financial Programming and Budget, Mr Janusz Lewandowski and George Ialomiţieanu, Minister of Finance.
The full event agenda here.
Photo from left to right: Janusz Lewandowski, European Commissioner for Financial Programming and Budget; Ialomiteanu George, Minister of Public Finance, Marek Dabrowski, Chairman, Centre for Social and Economic Reform (CSER)
Speeches:
Daniel Daianu, former Minister of Finance and MEP, about the reform of economic governance in the EU.
Dragos Dinu, administration expert, RCEP, about the Romanian planning system the 2020 Strategy.
Marek Dabrowski, Chairman, Center for Economic and Social Reform (CASE) Poland, on the macroeconomic monitoring mechanism at EU level.
Ginavar Anca, General Director, General Directorate for Territorial Development MDRT, about urban competitiveness.
Teodor Frolu, DC Communication Director, about the ECO Bucharest 2020.
02.12.2010
Worth Having It. The Effectiveness of the Co-operation and Verification Mechanism on Romania
The Romanian Center for European Policies (CRPE) and the Romanian Academic Society (SAR) have launched the report “Worth Having It - The Effectiveness of the Co-operation and Verification Mechanism on Romania” during a public hearing at the European Parliament organized by the two MEPs Monica Macovei and Maria Nedelcheva (Bulgaria).
The hearing debated the effects that the Co-operation and Verification Mechanism (CVM) had upon the justice systems in Bulgaria and Romania as well as the degree in which this mechanism could be a model for an EU-wide anti-corruption policy. The report launched in Brussels included the conclusions of a research project on the effectiveness of the CVM which was implemented by CRPE and SAR in 2009-2010. On this occasion, CRPE and SAR had the opportunity to present the results of their evaluation to decision-makers from the European Commission, EU Council and European Parliament.
The report can be downloaded from here.
"The Mechanism reflects our commitments inside the European Union, towards the other Member States and more importantly towards the Romanian citizens. Moreover, it is a political instrument for those who want to continue reforms in their home country”, Monica Macovei said in the conference opening.
The hearing was also attended by representatives of the European Commission and several General Directorates involved in the post-accession monitoring. Cristina Russo, Head of the unit responsible for the CVM within the European Commission praised the debate and the effectiveness of the Mechanism. “The European Commission is satisfied by the way this mechanism worksand does not plan to review it. The mechanism will be stopped when the benchmarks are fulfilled, and this is not the case at the moment”.
"The assessment made by CRPE on EU anti-corruption conditionalities has shown that the CVM blocked the attempts to dissolve those institutions and laws that Romania adopted before accession”, CRPE Director Cristian Ghinea stated. Ghinea also presented the results of a survey conducted among Romanian journalists and anti-corruption experts in regard to the impact of the CVM. Contrary to the opinions expressed by most politicians, the representatives of the press and civil society believe that the CVM should continue, 65% of them support tits continuation "but with harsher sanctions” while 20% believe that the Mechanism should be extended to other EU countries which face similar problems. More details can be found in the presentation made by Cristian Ghinea during the hearing in the European Parliament: here.
Laura Stefan, SAR anti-corruption coordinator, presented 3 study-cases in which the Mechanism had a decisive role. “The Mechanism contributed to the elimination of the amendments to the Criminal Procedural Code, blocked the dissolution of ANI and led to the elimination of the suspensive effect of the exceptions of unconstitutionality that slowed down high corruption cases. The mechanism counteracted the limited enthusiasm for reform experienced by many politicians after EU accession and kept all these issues on the public agenda”, Laura Stefan argued. More details are available in Laura Stefan’s presentation: here.
Photo from right to left: Maria Nedelcheva (MEP, Bulgaria), Monica Macovei (MEP, Romania), Laura Stefan (Anti-corruption coordinator, SAR), Cristian Ghinea (Director, CRPE).
Monica Macovei supported the idea: “Without this Mechanism we would not have today DNA, ANI, wealth and interest statements. The Mechanism supports reformative forces and must continue until the benchmarks are fulfilled”.
Antoinette Primatarova, member of the Bulgarian think-tank Centre for Liberal Strategies, also attended the hearing and made a similar CVM assessment for Bulgaria. Primatarova argued that the Mechanism enjoys the support of the Bulgarian government and NGOs. You can find more details in her presentation: here.
The report “Worth Having It - The Effectiveness of the Co-operation and Verification Mechanism on Romania” is part of the project “The Evaluation of the Effectiveness of the Mechanism for Cooperation and Verification in Justice. Recommendations for the Post-2009 Period” financed by the European Union within the Transition Facility Programme 2007/19343.01.11.
9.11.2010
Round-table : 'What should we say in Brussels? Should we continue or not with the justice monitoring?'
The Romanian Center for European Policies (CRPE) together with the Romanian Academic Society have organised on 28 September 2010 the debate „What should we say in Brussels? Should we continue or not with the justice monitoring?”
During the conference, the report „When, how and why did Romania accept the EU rules in the anti-corruption field. Overview 1999 - 2010” was launched. This is the fourth study that is released within the project “The Evaluation of the Effectiveness of the Mechanism for Cooperation and Verification in Justice. Recommendations for the Post-2009 period” funded by the European Union Transition Facility programme 2007/19343.01.11 - Strengthening support for civil society in fighting corruption.
Conference ‘Contributions regarding the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP)’
- June 17, 2010, Bucharest, Intercontinental Hotel -
The video recording of the conference as well as the presentation delivered can be viewed here on the website of the European Commission Representation in Romania.
The Effects of Justice Monitoring on Romanian Politics and Institutions - Media and Civil Society Perceptions
- June 10, 2010, Bucharest, Hotel Capital Plaza -
Read the full report in pdf format
Read the presentation delivered. pdf format (in Romanian only)
The Romanian Center for European Polices (CRPE) and the Academic Society of Romania (SAR) released a study that aims to evaluate the effectiveness and performance of the Mechanism for Cooperation and Verification (MCV) in the area of justice agreed upon by the European Union and Romania, analyzing the factors that have facilitated the acceptance and implementation of EU conditions.
This report is the second in a series of four that analyze the proposed topic. To obtain an analysis as well-documented and systematic as possible, we chose to conduct a poll of the opinions of experts in the domain, using a questionnaire structured around the objectives set by the MCV and covered in the monitoring reports.
The Capacity of the Superior Council of Magistracy to develop and implement ethical and integrity
standards
- March 15, 2010, Bucharest, Hotel Capital Plaza -
Read the report in pdf format (in Romanian only)
The Romanian Center for European Policies (CRPE) and the Academic Society of Romania (SAR) assess for the first time in Romania the effects and the efficiency of the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism (CVM) in the area of Justice agreed upon by the European Union and Romania.
The first study of this evaluation was made public Monday, March 15, 2010, during the debate with the same name: The Capacity of the Superior Council of Magistracy to develop and implement ethical and integrity standards
Judges, representatives of NGOs working on justice and media were present at the conference.
