PM Dancila sends letter to President Juncker asking for clarifications to EC requests on corruption cases

Prime Minister Viorica Dancila on Wednesday sent a letter to President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker, asking him to clarify "the de facto and de jure aspects" related to a letter of the EC from October 2012, sent to the Romanian Justice Ministry in which "concrete, direct" demands can be found regarding certain criminal cases and certain people under criminal investigation for corruption and abuse of office offenses, a press release of the Gov't informs.

Viorica Dancila specifies that as Prime Minister of Romania's Government, she has the responsibility to appeal "to all legal and moral levers for protecting and promoting Romania as a democratic state in which the separation of powers, the independence of justice are functioning and the citizens' fundamental rights and liberties are being guaranteed," the release says.

"The rule of law and the defense of the rule of law are the fundamental pillars of the strengthening of any democratic society, such as my country's. This is my conviction, that of Romania's Government and of all those who share democratic values. For these reasons and given our common convictions, I address you, Mr. President, in relation to a topic which worries and concerns the public opinion in Romania. I am referring to a letter attributed to the European Commission, of 10 October 2012, sent to the then-Justice Minister, Mrs. Mona Pivniceru, which contains 21 requests addressed by the European institutions to the Romanian Government regarding the Co-operation and Verification Mechanism. Among these requirements, certain concrete, direct requests can be found concerning certain criminal cases of certain people under criminal investigation for corruption and abuse of office offenses, namely George Becali, Adrian Nastase, Serban Alexandru Bradisteanu, George Copos, Tudor Chiuariu, Ion Dumitru, Decebal Traian Remes, Catalin Voicu, Dan Voiculescu," the premier affirms in the letter addressed to the EC head.

The Prime Minister expresses her belief that, soon, with Mr. Juncker's direct involvement, the aspects related to the requests addressed to the EC by the Romanian Justice Ministry will be cleared up.

Viorica Dancila also declared herself strongly convinced that the reply of the EC head to her request "will include relevant and useful details" that will further allow "for significant results within the CVM to be obtained, based on the values of respect for democracy, for the rule of law, for the citizens' fundamental rights and liberties, in a society characterised by no discrimination, by justice, lawfulness, truth, and equality of rights."AGERPRES(RO - author: Daniel Florea, editor: Andreea Rotaru; EN - author: Simona Iacob, editor: Maria Voican)