Commission Report 2002 (Romania)

1.3. General evaluation

In its 1997 Opinion, the Commission concluded that Romania fulfilled the political criteria. Since then the country has made progress in consolidating and deepening the stability of its institutions guaranteeing democracy, the rule of law, human rights and respect for and protection of minorities. This has been confirmed over the past year. Romania continues to fulfil the Copenhagen political criteria.

The launch of a major programme of administrative reform is an important development and ensuring the successful implementation of these reforms should be considered as a priority. Significant progress was also made with the decision to demilitarise the police. This will increase the public accountability of police officers - although further actions are needed to ensure the proportionality of their actions. New institutional structures have been created for fighting corruption, which remains a cause for very serious concern, but they have yet to have an impact.

Romania still needs to improve the decision making and legislative processes. In particular, the Government`s reliance on emergency ordinances should be reduced and parliament`s ability to scrutinise legislation increased. Reform of the judiciary has been limited. A lack of resources means that the judicial system is severely strained and the executive`s involvement in judicial affairs has not been reduced in practice. In order to address these issues, judicial reform should be made a political priority and a comprehensive strategy to improve the functioning of the judicial system should be drawn up.

Romania continues to respect human rights and freedoms. It has made significant progress with child protection, reducing the number of children in residential care and improving actual living conditions. Progress has also been made in promoting equal opportunities between men and women, with developing structures to reduce trafficking in human beings and with setting up the institutional framework to fight discrimination.

The development of a probation system has continued although prison conditions remain extremely poor. Additional steps need to be taken to strengthen safeguards for freedom of expression.

Positive developments took place with regard to the treatment of minorities. Legislation extending the official use of minority languages was implemented relatively smoothly. Important steps were taken to implement the National Strategy for Improving the Condition of Roma, with the aim of effectively combating discrimination and improving living conditions, although additional financial resources will be necessary to make further progress.

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