Justice

Expert: New reforms in the judiciary, after the screening is completed, risk delaying negotiations with the EU

The initiative to merge the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (PA) with the Prosecutor's Office for Combating Organized Crime and Special Cases (PCCOCS) could delay the opening of negotiation chapters with the European Union, after the bilateral screening has ended, argues justice and law expert Alexandru Bot. He explained in the show IN CONTEXT that "we need to justify to external donors, especially the European Commission, the legislative changes and why we are launching new reforms in the justice system."

*"We went through a broad reform of the PA, separating it from the National Anticorruption Center, now it must be reorganized by merging with the PCCOCS. Why did it appear ad hoc, there is no discussion with experts about what would be the optimal form and whether it is necessary. Now we have to explain to external donors, especially the European Union, why we are launching a new reform. Of course, this will have an impact on the negotiations and on our justification of what we want to do and where we want to go. Respectively, all these unknowns will impact our discussions with representatives of the European Union who are heavily financing these reforms." *

If the goal is to combat only electoral corruption, then all special cases, both at the PCCOCS and the PA, fall into the organized crime segment, under the Criminal Code, argues Bot. "The benefits of this merger are difficult to understand. It can be solved much more easily by the Prosecutor General's orders, which would create a large criminal investigation group, including representatives of both the PCCOCS and the PA, and criminal investigation officers from the CNA, to be prepared for such a scenario. Now, half a year before the elections, creating a new institution and reorganizing and defining all the management structures is counterproductive,” said the expert from the Watch Dog Organization.

The Ministry of Justice has submitted to Parliament proposals for the merger of the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office and the Prosecutor's Office for Combating Organized Crime and Special Cases. The files managed by them could be transferred to the Section for Combating Political Corruption and Money Laundering, recently created by an order of the Prosecutor General.

The head of the PA, Veronica Dragalin, criticizes the initiative and believes that the initiative would not meet the current requirements and challenges in the fight against corruption and organized crime.

Meanwhile, experts have different opinions: while some consider the merger a justified measure, others argue that the stakes of the reform are the removal of Veronica Dragalin from the leadership of the PA.

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