Romania: court ruling eases transparency laws
The Romanian Constitutional Court has ordered a relaxation of regulations on financial transparency for public officials. Politicians and civil servants are currently required to publish details of their assets - both their own and those of direct relatives. Under the new ruling the legal provisions must be amended to stipulate that the data must be submitted to the ANI inspection body, but not made public, and information about relatives' assets will no longer required.
Carte blanche for corruption
The Romanian service of Deutsche Welle warns:
“Who is supposed to review hundreds of thousands of declarations of this kind? As long as they were publicly accessible, journalists could comb through them and uncover discrepancies, collusion, the excessive debt of some individuals or the disproportionately high loans of others. The discrepancies between officials' incomes and expenditures were the focus of public attention and could be viewed by anyone. ... This ruling takes politicians back to the days of getting rich quick, when tenders were a mere formality and illegal funds were transferred and put in the names of children, wives, mothers and aunts.”
President can set a standard
Spotmedia praises the newly elected president, urging him to go the next step:
“It is to be welcomed that Nicușor Dan has announced that he will publish his declaration of assets on the website of the presidential administration. It would also be good if, as a role model in terms of complete transparency, Dan were to also publish his partner's declaration of assets. This would take things to a relevant level in a country where spouses' incomes have once again become confidential, and could encourage other politicians to implement similar transparency measures.”