AG Lazar, Dutch counterpart Van der Burg, on building public trust in public prosecution service

Romania's Attorney General Augustin Lazar said on Tuesday that the public should be confident that when certain issues are examined by prosecutors, they are treated with professionalism and integrity.

The statement came after meeting his Dutch counterpart Gerrit van der Burg.

"We discussed the importance of building public confidence in the Public Prosecution Service (MP) in each of the European Union states, especially in Romania and the Netherlands, so that the public, when it sees that certain issues are in the MP's crosshairs, may be confident that the problems are in good, professional hands, who are animated by moral integrity," said Lazar.

Lazar pointed out that the discussions highlighted the common concerns about the functioning of the two institutions, about the management of specific problems facing the judiciary in order to consolidate the rule of law.

"His visit was an additional opportunity to us to exchange best practices and establish effective judicial co-operation in areas of interest to both sides, such as trans-frontier crime, cybercrime, crimes related to drug trafficking, trafficking in cultural goods and others," Lazar added at a press conference at the end of his meeting with his Dutch counterpart.

He also said that he presented his concerns to the Dutch colleagues about the MP's modernisation and talked about investing about 70 million lei in computerisation.

"We have tackled many current affairs, such as ensuring the independence of the justice organisations, and protecting the statutes of the prosecutors - which are current issues that have been, and are still, frequently addressed at European level. We discussed the institution of the European Prosecutor, a new institution that should be known and deepened by all European prosecutors," Lazar said.

In his turn, van der Burg mentioned joint Romanian-Dutch investigations, such as in trafficking in human beings, drug trafficking and the return of cultural assets.

"We have talked about three important pillars for our institutional work - confidence in the professionalism and independence of the Public Prosecution Service, the importance of respecting the rule of law, and the fact that the MP must be able to do its job independently. We have agreed that the society must come to expect the public prosecution services to act with integrity," said the Dutch AG. AGERPRES (RO - author: Daniel Alexandru Florea, editor: Georgiana Tanasescu; EN - author: Corneliu-Aurelian Colceriu, editor: Adina Panaitescu)