Corruption in Romania Has Gone Too Far. It’s Time for Change

Audio By Carbonatix

Romania’s far-right party, the Alliance for the Unity of Romanians (AUR), is on the march. Combining Euroscepticism with outright xenophobia, the AUR captured nearly 15% of the vote in July’s EU elections. It is now on course to break through in pivotal national elections in December.

With a population of 20 million, Romania is no European minnow; its lurch to the right should concern all those who believe in a democratic Europe. Positively, the EU has options — not least fighting back against endemic corruption — to stop the rot.

Breaches of Trust

There’s little doubt that Romanians view the state as unjust, their courts actively corrupt. Last year, the ruling Social Democratic Party (PSD) faced huge public outrage following revelations that a senior figure had received bribes from the construction sector.

Dumitru Buzatu, a Country Council President, was caught in possession of a bag stuffed with $250,000. This was allegedly Buzatu’s 10% cut from lucrative road rehabilitation projects.

Romania’s intelligence service, the SRI, is also under scrutiny for its close ties to deep-pocketed politicians and recent history of judicial interference, epitomized by the career of Florian Coldea, its First Deputy between 2005 and 2017.

Once seen as a rising star in the European intelligence community, Coldea was eventually suspended by Romania’s long-serving President Klaus Iohannis in January 2017 for judicial interference.

Coldea was found to have pressured the criminal courts to obtain his preferred outcome in certain cases, as well as breaking conventions by holidaying with senior parliamentarians.

The suspension did not stop Coldea from continuing to leverage his political connections. The former spook is now under court supervision, and on bail, having been charged with money laundering and influence peddling as recently as May 2024.

It has been reported that Cătălin Hideg, a Romanian businessman, recently accused Coldea of requesting a bribe of EUR 600,000 in return for the “optimization” of Hideg’s sentencing for fraud.

While intelligence services in Western Europe have a more international remit and are disconnected from domestic courts, their counterparts in the former Soviet Union are politically entrenched.

In Romania, this has even seen the SRI clash with the country’s royal family.

No One’s Safe

For example, in 2015, when Coldea was still running the SRI, Prince Paul of Romania was indicted by the National Anti-Corruption Directorate (DNA) regarding the restitution of properties nationalized under the communist dictatorship of Nicolae Ceaușescu.

The SRI’s headquarters in Bucharest was on Prince Paul’s list, making the restitution claim very close to home for the service.

The Prince’s lawyer, Robert Rosu, and Israeli businessman Beny Steinmetz, who advised on the project, were also indicted by the Romanian authorities.

Both men denied the allegations, with Steinmetz’s legal team maintaining that their client had not behaved improperly. Interpol has since confirmed that Steinmetz was first denied a fair trial before being issued with a European Arrest Warrant (or EAW) by the Romanian courts.

The warrant was promptly rejected as spurious, and a violation of Steinmetz’s fundamental rights, by the authorities in France, Greece, and Italy amongst others. In addition, it has recently been reported that Malta’s appeal court refused to execute the EAWs issued by Romania against Prince Paul and Steinmetz — in line with the findings of the European Court of Justice and Interpol.

The ability of EU member states and institutions to counter the excesses of the Romanian judiciary is a comfort to commercial operators, maybe. But justice being served in high-profile international cases will offer little solace to Romanians.

This pessimism is borne out in the data. According to Transparency International, Romania’s score in its Corruption Perceptions Index has barely improved in recent years. Romania now ranks as low as 63rd in the world for good governance.

It would be hyperbole to compare Romania to Viktor Orban’s Hungary, a nation that flouts EU rules and embraces Putin’s Russia and Xi’s China. Nonetheless, Romania’s direction of travel merits a more muscular response from the EU.

Transparency, Reforms Required

At the very least, the EU should demand that Romania repeal the legislative reforms it introduced in 2021 that have further hampered the transparency of its courts. The EU Court of Justice contested these changes at the time but was ignored.

If the Romanian government refuses to engage, an official reprimand would be the logical next step, given weight by the summoning of President Iohannis to Brussels. More drastic measures — perhaps in response to new high-profile corruption cases — would be to withhold, or at least threaten to withhold, EU funds.

Romania will receive €41 billion from the EU this year alone, a boon for its economy. Yet for Romania to grow equitably, and to stay away from political extremes, meaningful judicial reform is needed.

Without it, Romania will be in the EU, but Romanians won’t be as free as they should.

This article was published by Media Decision and syndicated by Wealth of Geeks.