Conflicts of interests and incompatibilities in Eastern Europe

Conflicts of interests and incompatibilities in Eastern Europe Case study: Romania

Construction of Romanian anticorruption system 1 st pillar – external commitments in order to join EU 2 nd pillar – internal pressure of reformist groups and civil society 3 rd pillar – political will

First period: 1996 -2000 - Legislative and institutional development, with poor results - There are no anticorruption institutions working - 1996 – first wealth statements were introduced, with an opaque procedure

Second period: 2000 -2007 - Anticorruption instruments are generated through legislative initiatives and institutional building - 2005 – reformist wave: National Anticorruption Directorate, new interest declaration templates - 2007 – Cooperation and Verification Mechanism (CVM), National Integrity Agency

Third period: 2007 -2012 - Institutions start producing visible results - 2010 – Constitutional Court decision limits the attributions of NIA - 2012 – five years of monitoring through CVM: NIA and NAD are presented as efficient institutions

Legal design and issues - Conflicts of interests, incompatibilities and wealth declaration are covered by both general and special laws - Drastic modification of legislation in 2010 - Frequent legislative amendments - Significant number of raised unconstitutionality exceptions

Evolutions and setbacks of the system Instruments of political control: • legislative initiatives + Constitutional Court • budgeting • political declarations + electoral campaign • defensive stance and opposition to putting into practice legal decisions

Anticorruption network National Integrity Agency + Courts National Anticorruption Directorate European funds management institutions