Global Integrity Report: Romania - 2010
This peer-reviewed country report includes:
Integrity Indicators Scorecard: Scores, scoring criteria, commentary, references, and peer review perspectives for more than 300 Integrity Indicators.
Reporter's Notebook: An on-the-ground look at corruption and integrity from a leading local journalist.
Corruption Timeline: Ten years of political context to today's corruption and integrity issues.
HIGHLIghts
Romania’s overall performance has changed little since Global Integrity’s previous assessment in 2008. Because of its compliance with EU accession mandates, Romania earns a sparkling rating for its overall legal framework in combating corruption. However, the implementation and enforcement of that legal framework leave much to be desired. Whistle-blowing measures in the public sector do exist, but they continue to be ineffective largely because of inadequate staffing and funding. The ombudsman office has very weak investigatory and prosecutorial powers, while law enforcement – a perennially problematic institution in Romania – is often politicized: “appointments are sometimes made not necessarily according to official rank and professional criteria, but to party loyalties.” As with many other countries, Romania suffers from poor accountability and transparency in political financing. The agency charged with monitoring party and individual candidate expenditures relies on voluntary self-reports rather than actively pursuing investigations and imposing penalties. Civil service oversight remains weak, including the ongoing challenge of political and nepotistic criteria factoring into hiring and firing decisions.