EU May Freeze Romania's EU Funding over Controversial Law Change

EU Commission First Vice President Frans Timmermans has said Romania may be facing a halt of EU funding allocated to the country in response to the changes in the legislation on abuse of office.

EU is "directly interested" in how the legislation ends up as it "may impact payment of EU funding if adopted," the Bulgarian National Radio quotes him as saying in a European Parliament debate.

He has added "the most important thing" is to send a political message to Romania's government so that it doesn't take the wrong track.

In a statement on Wednesday, EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and Vice President Frans Timmermans said in joint statement that "any steps which undermine this progress [in fighting corruption], or have the effect of weakening or shrinking the scope of corruption as an offense, would have an impact on any future assessments."

The Commission warns against backtracking and will look thoroughly at the emergency ordinance on the Criminal Code and the Law on Pardons in this light."