BRUSSELS, January 22, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

The Brussels based news portal "EU Today" has today (Monday 22 January) published a report on the Romanian Justice System that analyses the reasons why judicial and penal reforms that were required of Romania prior to EU accession have still not been fulfilled. 

The report presents case studies to illustrate the politicised nature of the Romanian justice system, and highlights the situation in Romanian prisons.

Romania acceded to the EU on January 1st 2007 for reasons of political expediency, although there were objections from the European Court of Auditors, and outstanding problems recognised by both the European Parliament and the European Commission.

Ever since that date, the penal system in Romania has come under strong criticism from the European Court of Human Rights, and the High Court of England and Wales.

The report concludes that

• Romania has failed to comply with its obligations, regarding judicial reform:

• Romania has failed to demonstrate a separation of powers between the executive, law enforcement agencies, and the judiciary:

• Romania has come under criticism for the treatment of suspects before and during the arrest process:

• Romania has been the subject of negative judgements from the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) about the conditions in its jails, and treatment of its prisoners:

The report recommends

• A moratorium on extradition to Romania of suspects until such time as the ECHR deems that the Romanian penal system fully meets EU standards.

• A reassessment at EU and member state level of official responses to European Arrest Warrants initiated in Romania.

• In the case of the UK, after withdrawal from the EU in March 2019, to consider carefully HMG's response to Interpol Red Notices issued by the Romanian authorities.

The full report can be downloaded here.

The author of the report, Gary Cartwright, is the Publisher of EU Today. He was a staff member of the European Parliament from 2004-2014, and from 2004 until Romanian accession in January 2007 worked on the Moscovici Report, providing voting recommendations to UK MEPs at committee and plenary stages.

SOURCE EU Today