The bill and the PNRR milestone

The legislative proposal on consolidating normative acts in the field of integrity was drafted by the Ministry of Justice together with the National Integrity Agency (ANI) and sent to the European Commission. It contains every transparency guarantee requested by ANI and derived from national and European case law, according to interim Justice Minister Cătălin Predoiu. The bill is one of six required for Romania to access the remaining funds under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR); missing the milestone would have blocked those disbursements.

Political consultations and amendments

At the prime minister's request, consultations were held with parliamentary parties willing to take part. PNL, USR and UDMR attended; PSD stayed away. The three parties proposed amendments, and two of them made it explicit that they would support the parliamentary debate and final adoption of the law only if their amendments were included in the text submitted to Parliament. One amendment, originating with UDMR, removes the obligation to publish the declaration of financial interests, meaning asset and interest declarations would still be filed with ANI but would no longer be publicly accessible.

“The only way to trigger the parliamentary debate procedure was to notify Parliament with a bill that included the parties' amendments.”

Why the minister tabled the bill as a senator

The interim government lacks the legal authority to initiate legislative projects. After consulting the prime minister, Predoiu decided to deposit the proposal in his capacity as a senator, exercising the right of parliamentary initiative. He emphasised that the version sent to the European Commission remained unchanged and reflects his full legal vision, while the version submitted to Parliament is a mechanism to unlock the legislative process and to let Parliament decide the final shape of the law.

“The alternative was keeping the process blocked, with a project drafted by the Ministry of Justice and ANI, deposited with the European Commission, but without Parliament being notified.”

Criticism from civil society

Twelve non-governmental organisations published an open letter arguing that the project breaches Romania's international commitments, deprives citizens of civic instruments for monitoring corruption, contains unconstitutional provisions, and is incompatible with the rule of law. The contested provision on non-publication of financial interest declarations is at the centre of that criticism.

Predoiu's position and next steps

Predoiu acknowledged that some amendments "do not faithfully reflect my legal vision" but described the decision to include them as "a political and state decision, meant to offer a chance to escape an impasse, with all the image costs that come with it, of which I was aware." He reiterated that the official government position towards the European Commission remains the project originally drafted with ANI, and that the parliamentary process will now determine the final content of the law.

“The way the parliamentary process will conclude depends on the will of the MPs and the parliamentary parties that will debate the legislative proposal.”