Romania’s Justice and Anti-Corruption Reform: A Stubborn Divergence from European Norms in Pursuit of Personal Gains

Abstract

In this chapter, Martin-Russu shifts towards an in-depth observation of the elite’s legislative conduct in the area of anti-corruption. The analysis focuses on the concrete developments of Romania’s public integrity law (i.e. the initially adopted act, its different provisions and its development over more than a decade), which clearly show a pattern of diluting existing legislation, with repeated subtle attempts to reverse positive reform steps already undertaken. The chapter illustrates how the use of inadequate and hasty procedures and the adoption of amendments inconsistent and ill-fitted to the scope of the law can hardly be justified as being in the interests of society as a whole, being driven solely by the narrow self-serving purposes of the elite. This self-serving conduct of the political elite has dire consequences for the quality of legislation, for the quality of institutional interactions, and more importantly, for the level of public trust and the political engagement of the nonelite.