Official Oprisor: New National Defence Strategy reiterates Romania's committment to rule of law

The new National Defence Strategy for 2020-2024 reiterates Romania's "commitment" to the rule of law, with the document categorizing the corruption phenomenon as a "security risk," said presidential adviser Ion Oprisor - National Security Department, in a statement sent by the Presidential Administration to AGERPRES on Thursday. According to the same source, "the corruption phenomenon is no longer presented as a vulnerability, as mentioned in the previous strategies, but as a high risk, being included in the security risk category." He specified that in drafting this strategy there have been taken into account the constitutional provisions and in force laws and also the decisions of the Constitutional Court of Romania based on which "the intelligence services don't need to participate in cooperation with the Public Ministry in obtaining the evidence used in the criminal proceedings." "The strategy reiterates Romania's commitment to the rule of law and explicitly underscores, under item 53, that observing the firm commitment to justice and law, the values of democracy and the rule of law principle, as well as the modernisation of the state and its institutions, are fundamental things that ensure citizens the security and prosperity they are entitled to receive," said the presidential adviser. Oprisor added that the strategy grants "major" importance to the societal component of the national security, based "especially on the increase in resilience and the decrease in internal vulnerabilities, including through combating corruption, as well as based on the good functioning of the rule of law and democracy and the strengthening of the administrative capacity." According to the presidential adviser, combating corruption in all its form, from the creation of illegitimate groups of interest to the risk of influencing the decisions made by the authorities of the state is being approached in several sections of the strategy. "The strategy refers to the fight against corruption in achieving the national security objectives from an internal perspective, which has to do with the good functioning of justice and ensuring the rule of law, eliminating deficiencies that affect good governance, as well as preventing and combating criminality of all kinds," added Oprisor. At present, Oprisor brought to mind, the National Defence Strategy drafted by the Ministry of Justice is still in force, but it will expire at the end of this year. "After the approval by the Romanian Parliament of the new National Defence Strategy, all the public institutions operating in national security will draft their sectoral strategies specific to their field of activity, including an anti-corruption strategy, which will present in detail the objectives, responsibilities and concrete directions for action," added the presidential adviser. "According to President Klaus Iohannis the anti-corruption fight must continue by all means, at the same time with the promotion at the level of the society of the fundamental values on which we can create a culture of integrity in the public area, which is the only way to eliminate the causes at the grounds of the corruption phenomenon," maintained Oprisor. He brought to mind that the head of state had a meeting on Wednesday with Prime Minister Ludovic Orban during which they discussed "in detail" about "repairing" the justice laws that was very much affected by the successive modifications in the past couple of years. The new National Defence Strategy for 2020-2024 has been approved by the Supreme Council for Country Defence (CSAT) at its meeting of May 27 and was submitted to Parliament for debate and approval. The strategy represents the main document involving planning in the defence field and it was drafted with the contribution of all institutions operating in the national security field. AGERPPRES (RO - author: Oana Ghita, editor: Claudia Stanescu; EN - author: Cristina Zaharia; editor: Adina Panaitescu)