Commission for European Integration of the Romanian Parliament Joint Parliamental Committee Romania European Union (the XVIIIth reunion, Bucharest, 7-8 April 2005) Subject: “ Implementation of the administration and judicial reforms. Fight against corruption and organized crime. Rapporteurs: Anca BOAGIU, deputy, vice-president of CIE (coordinator) Sorin Cristian DUMITRESCU, deputy ECKSTEIN Kovacs Peter, deputy Vlad Gabriel HOGEA, deputy Antonie IORGOVAN, senator Marian Jean MARINESCU, deputy Nicolae-Vlad POPA, senator In the last year, the activity of Romania‘s preparation to join the European Union comprised the improvement of state institutions, so that the implementation of the Acquis communautaire to be realized according to the commitments assumed by Romania, avoiding the application of the safeguarding clauses. For this, the legislative framework was finalized, necessary programming documents were adopted, and the institutional framework in the essential fields was developed in order to insure the good development of state institutions’ activities: a) Increase in efficiency of the public, central and local administration; b) Increase in efficiency and insuring the independence of the judicial system; c) Improvement of the mechanisms for the fight against corruption; d) Increase in efficiency for the fight against organized crime. All this activity developed in an accelerating manner in the last half of 2004, and in the first quarter of 2005. Until now, all commitments from the negotiation dossier on chapter 24 – Justice and Internal Affairs (JAI) have been fulfilled. CPM: Implementation of the administration and judicial reforms. Fight against corruption and organized crime. 1 Commission for European Integration of the Romanian Parliament a) The increase in efficiency of the public, central and local administration Since Mai 2004, the Romanian Government’s strategy regarding the acceleration of the public administration reform1 was adopted. Following agreement concluded with the European Commission, three domains have been identified, for which significant progresses are provided for in this period: - Decentralization and deconcentration of public services; - Increase in efficiency in public function; - Improvement of the public policies formulation process. The Law governing the decentralization was adopted in 20042, regulating: - The principles and criteria based on which the decentralization is carried out; - The cooperation manner between the local public administration authorities; - Introduction and regulation of the financial balance principle and of the principle of coordination between administrative and financial decentralization. The key-element of the deconcentration process, namely the transfer of the Prefect position among public officers, is to be realized in 2006, according to the Law regarding the Prefect’s institution, adopted in 20043. The deconcentration process was completed by the elaboration of certain normative acts, through which the responsibilities were transferred from the central administration to the local public authorities, responsibilities such as the identity cards issuing, passports evidence, civil protection and defense against fires, Community Police. The National Public Officers’ Agency continued the institutional development process in order to elaborate and coordinate policies of human resources management in the public function system. The analysis of this processes by experts of the European Union SIGMA program, led to the efficiency of the activity4 and to the approval at the end of 2004 by Government Decision, of a new Regulation of the Agency. The Agency continued to implement the training programs of officers, and continued to monitor the implementation of the Public Officers’ Conduct Code5. In Mai 2004, the National Administration Institute signed the cooperation memorandum with the Germen Company InWent. The Project "Adaptation of the central level of the public administration from Romania to the structures of the European Union" is developed by the German company in partnership with the Institute for European Policy – Berlin, National Administration Institute, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry for European Integration, Ministry of Administration and the Interior, and is supported by the German Federal Government, represented by the Federal Minister of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). 1 GD no 699/5.05.2004 2 Law no. 339/12-07-2004 3 Law no. 340/12-07-2004 4 Strategy regarding the unitary remuneration system of public officers. The Guide regarding the individual performances evaluation. The Guide regarding carrier development in public office 5 adopted by Law 7/2004 CPM: Implementation of the administration and judicial reforms. Fight against corruption and organized crime. 2 Commission for European Integration of the Romanian Parliament The PHARE project « Development of the operational capacity of the National Administration Institute» includes the development of the training capacity, the elaboration and implementation of training modules, implementation of the concept “training of trainers” which will finally lead to the transformation of the Institute into an excellence center, integrated in the national education network. Following these activity improvement efforts, the quality criteria necessary for the ISO 9001 certification of INA have been met, the certificate being issued at the end of 2004. b) Increase in efficiency and insuring the independence of the judicial system The basic legislative framework has been modified in 2004 following the adoption of the new Romanian Constitution, by adopting: the Judicial Organization Law6, the Law regarding the Magistrates Status7 and the Law regarding the Superior Magistracy Council8 (SMC). A series of administrative measures have been taken in order to increase efficiency, transparency and independence of the justice act: since March 1st 2005, the random distribution of cases is operational for all courts in the country. The financing sources for the electronic endowment of the courts have been provided for. At the end of March 2005, the Strategy for Reform in the Judicial System and the Action plan for its implementation have been updated and approved9. The strategy focuses on granting independence to the justice and insuring transparency and the quality of the justice act, while increasing the efficiency and responsibility of the judicial system. Measures for the adjustment of the judicial system to the demands of cases involving minors are requested, to correspond to the European standards regarding the observance of children rights. The reform of the judicial system also focuses on the alignment of the detention conditions to European standards, with the strict observance of human rights. For this, the elaboration of a long-term plan is foreseen for the construction of new detention houses and for the renovation of the existent detention spaces. On the same note, the process of demilitarization of the Prisons’ administration system shall be continued. The plan comprises precise actions and terms for the application of the Strategy, including: implementation of the Magistrates Deontology Code, regulation of the incompatibility between a SMC member quality and the leading positions within Courts and Prosecutor’s offices, responsibility of the Magistrates for exercising their function in bad faith or severe negligence, modification of the Civil and Criminal Procedure Codes, reduction of the judicial procedures, unification of the judicial practice. The High Court of Causation and Justice elaborated the Plan for reduction of overdue file load and introduced it in the National Strategy for reform of the judicial system. 6 Law no. 304/28.06.2004 7 Law no. 303/28.06.2004 8 Law no. 317/1.07.2005 9 GD no. 231/30.03.2005 CPM: Implementation of the administration and judicial reforms. Fight against corruption and organized crime. 3 Commission for European Integration of the Romanian Parliament Following enforcement of the European Convention in the field11 the protection of crime victims was insured by Law10. The organization and function Regulation for the National Office for Witness Protection has been elaborated12. A series of normative acts are in the elaboration’s stage by the Ministry of Justice, and are to be presented before the Legislative in the fist half of 2005, as follows: reduction of the number and size of Military Courts following the legal decrease in their competency, amendment of the legislation regarding the fight against fraud and fiscal evasion and the increase of alternative methods for solution of litigations (mediation). c. Improvement of the mechanisms for the fight against corruption The Supreme Council for Country Defense included the fight against corruption in the Romanian National Security Strategy, corruption being considered a risk factor to national security. The independent audit regarding the results and impact generated by the national anti-corruption strategy 2001-2004, was elaborated. The government approved March 30th 2005, the National multi-annual Anti-Corruption Strategy (NAS) and the respective Action Plan, which include also the conclusions and recommendations of the abovementioned audit13. In the 3 primary fields, SNA comprises 10 objectives, among those: the reduction of the number of structures with attributions in the fight against corruption, strengthening of the institutional capacity of National Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (NAP) and the celerity increase