By Mark Percival
Last week's failure by the Senate to pass the government ordinance confirming the status of the National Anti-Corruption Department (DNA) has been yet one more confirmation to Romania's citizens of the abysmal nature of the vast majority of the country's political class. The aim of the ordinance was to give the DNA the authority to carry out investigations into cases of high level corruption involving politicians, in the first instance by completing procedures currently under way against former Prime Minister Adrian Nastase, former Finance Minister Dan Ioan Popescu, and Vice Prime Minister George Copos, then by moving on to consider the many allegations of serious corruption against numerous serving deputies and senators. Last week's result was a further indication that most politicians consider themselves to be above the law, and that to a great extent they are. The President of the Senate himself, Nicolae Vacariou, has been accused in numerous media reports of serious acts of corruption involving alleged profiteering from oil smuggling to Yugoslavia during the Bosnian war, when he was Prime Minister, and from bank failures. Vacaroiu has nevertheless escaped prosecution or investigation for these alleged criminal acts due to his parliamentary immunity.
In spite of much rhetoric from all sides of the political spectrum about the need to focus on EU accession as the country's main goal, the Senate vote shows that for most of Romania's politicians, a far more important priority is to protect their privileges and remain beyond the reach of the law. It does not matter to most of the country's elected representatives that the EU has emphasised that progress on prosecutions for high level corruption as essential if Romania is to join the bloc on schedule next year. It is irrelevant to the majority of the political class that the establishment of an independent judiciary, which by definition must also have the power to act against politicians, is another vital entry criterion. The Senate vote quickly drew criticism from the European Commission Delegation, the US Embassy, and from the British Ambassador Quinton Quayle, who last Friday expressed concern that the fight against corruption had reached "a critical point." If the safeguard clause is invoked in the EU country report in May due to lack of progress in the fight against corruption, delaying Romania's EU accession, or if any of the national parliaments in EU member states rejects the accession treaty for the same reason, senators who failed to support last week's vote will bear heavy responsibility.
Perhaps the most disappointing aspect of the Senate's vote was that the motion failed due to lack of support from senators belonging to the ruling Liberal-Democratic Alliance, many of who failed to turn up, or did not vote. In a phone-in show on Realitatea TV, many citizens naturally concluded that even though the focus of the anti-corruption investigations so far has mostly been directed against politicians from the former ruling Social Democratic party (PSD) it is clear that members of the Alliance also have reasons to try to escape accountability before the DNA. The government's failure to mobilise its senators to support the ordinance appeared as a conspiracy by the entire political class, regardless of party affiliation, to preserve its privileges. The behaviour of the government's senators is especially inexcusable considering that many citizens made great efforts to vote for the Alliance in late 2004, often queuing for several hours at polling stations, because they wanted a government which would take firm action against corruption.
If the governing parties are serious about fighting corruption, or indeed about EU accession, they should firstly discipline those senators who failed to support a measure which ostensibly represented a critical aspect of government policy. In any developed democracy, it is a serious matter for members of the ruling party not to support the government in a vote on a fundamental policy issue. In Britain, the governing party issues a "three line whip" to its MPs in such circumstances, and defiance invites severe sanctions against rebel members from the party authorities, even when motivated by reasons of principle. Secondly, it is now up to President Basescu to use his constitutional right to send the law back to the Senate for a second vote. It would be natural also for the President to make clear that he would resign were the senators to reject the measure again. In the longer term, last week's vote is a further demonstration of the pressing need for an entirely new generation in Romanian political life.
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