The European Commission will prolong monitoring of Romania's respect for the rule of law and fight corruption, it said on Tuesday, maintaining pressure on a government it fears could be undermining democracy.
Brussels, some European Union member countries and the United States have criticised Prime Minister Victor Ponta's leftist government for threatening to push through the impeachment of the president by measures including going against rulings from Romania's Constitutional Court.
The EU put the monitoring programme in place to ensure Romania, which joined the bloc in 2007, met its standards. Its extension underlines Brussels' ongoing concerns about the rule of law in the government's power battle with the president.
The Commission will decide on Wednesday to keep up the monitoring process - something Romania sees as a stigma that, along with its exclusion from Europe's passport-free Schengen zone, makes it a second-class EU member.
Bucharest had hoped the programme would be ended last year.
The government bowed to EU pressure on Monday by reinstating a minimum turnout threshold for a referendum on impeaching the president, increasing right-wing President Traian Basescu's chances of surviving the July 29 vote.
Adrian Basaraba, a political science professor of Romania's University of Timisoara said the continued monitoring was "fully justified given the last political developments in Romania and derailments from the democratic path."
"I do believe that Romania is risking further action from the European Union if it does not change its current path."
The European Commission said Ponta had given written commitments on a list of 11 "points of concern" issued by Commission head Jose Manuel Barroso last week, demanding the government reverse measures that Brussels said threatened the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary.
"If implemented as announced, all the requirements outlined by President Barroso in his meeting on the 12th July have been met, or will be met," the EU executive said in a statement.
"Effective and speedy implementation will therefore be crucial. The Commission will continue to monitor the situation." That decision will be taken formally by a meeting of EU commissioners on Wednesday, it said.
RIVALRY
Ponta, prime minister since May, has led a campaign against his political rival Basescu and the resulting uncertainty and policy paralysis have rattled markets and raised concerns over a 5 billion euro International Monetary Fund-led aid deal.
Basescu says the rush to oust him was triggered by government politicians' fears of ongoing corruption investigations after anti-graft prosecutors scored a string of high-profile convictions, including Adrian Nastase, a former prime minister and mentor to Ponta.
Many Romanians, see little difference between the bickering sides in the EU's second-poorest and most corrupt member after Greece and Bulgaria.
"I'm not going to vote. I don't care. Both of them are scoundrels," said Maria Benciu, a 39-year-old sales agent on her way to work in Bucharest's steamy summer.
Ponta's government came under international criticism after it threatened to replace Constitutional Court judges and ignored one of the court's decisions. It also passed an emergency decree on the referendum that does not include the minimum turnout threshold.
Parliament, dominated by Ponta's Social Liberal Union, is due to debate the referendum law on Wednesday and Thursday and could yet decide to remove the turnout requirement again, setting up another row with the Constitutional Court and the EU.
The government retreat on voter turnout failed to lend support to the leu, which remains close to an all time low and is hurting the two-thirds of borrowers who have loans in foreign currencies.
"With such a large turnout looking fairly unlikely, suspended president Basescu is likely to survive the 29 July vote but parliament meets tomorrow and it is not completely unlikely that the rules will be adjusted once again," said ING analyst Vlad Muscalu.
Reuters 17/07/2012
