Holland’s declarations ‘bring prejudices’ to Romania

Germany, France and Holland have shown their opposition in Romania and Bulgaria’s accession to the Schengen area, due to impairment of combating corruption.

Furthermore, the representative of the Netherlands declared last week in Brussels, at a reunion of the European Union ambassadors that in Romania there are still huge issues regarding the reform of the justice and hence, Holland doesn’t believe our country is a rule of law state.

The Minister of Justice, Cătălin Predoiu, stated on Tuesday that the declarations are untrue.

The minister claims that the statements belonging to the Dutch diplomat are unfounded, untrue and regrettable and bring prejudices to a member state of the European Union.

The Netherlands ‘ignore Romania’s progresses’

Cătălin Predoiu believes the assessment to be unacceptable because they totally ignore Romania’s progresses in terms of justice and internal affairs:

‘I wish to categorically reject such assessments, which cannot be supported by facts. An obvious confusion is being made between the concept of rule of law and that of justice reform. The reform of justice is under way, just to strengthen the state law – it is about two different things.

‘Romania has made and continues to make unprecedented efforts to streamline the judiciary system and combat corruption. Anyone who visits our country can see these efforts without difficulty,’ the minister stated.

Moreover, the critics of Dutch officials, who question the rule of law in Romania, ignore the reality recorded in official European documents:

‘The criterion for the existence of the rule of law has been evaluated for years by European institutions, in relation to the evolution of Romania’s European course. This was a precondition for the accession of Romania to the European Union, without which the accession would not have been possible.’

‘In this context, we appreciate that the exaggerated statements, which intentionally ignore the reality in Romania and take over a series of arguments that are circulated in Euro-skeptical circles, which is what we wish to obtain through this approach’, Cătălin Predoiu explained.

The Minister of Justice invited the Dutch officials to visit Romania to see on the spot the stage of the reforms in our country.

He expressed his hope that the representatives of the European Commission and of other member states would take into consideration Romania’s progresses in the judicial system.

Translated by: Manuela Stancu
MA Student, MTTLC, Bucharest University