EU raps Romania over corruption, lauds Bulgaria

The European Union chided Romania for falling behind in efforts to root out rampant corruption, but praised Bulgaria, its fellow newcomer in the bloc, for progress in fighting graft.
In an annual progress report published on Tuesday, the European Commission said Romania's politicians lacked will to push ahead with reforms, which put the Black sea in violation of its EU entry commitments.
"While Bulgaria has embraced reform efforts and achieved important results, Romania has lost momentum with this report showing important shortcomings," the EU executive said in a statement.
The EU has put the two countries under special scrutiny since they joined the EU in 2007 due to long-standing worries over corruption and organised crime, which is scaring away investors and making it more difficult to overcome recession.
In the case of Romania, corruption could derail its 20 bln euro aid agreement with the IMF, some analysts say.
The Commission was especially irked by a new Romanian law that made an anti-graft agency body which checks politicians' wealth virtually impotent.
"The new law on the National Integrity Agency represents a significant step back in the fight against corruption and breaches commitments Romania has taken upon accession," it said.
Some diplomats say continued criticism over corruption vindicated their views that Bulgaria and Romania were not ready to join the EU. As a result, EU hopefuls, such as Serbia or Albania, will face much tougher scrutiny, they say.
The report urged Romania to upgrade its courts, which remain inefficient, step up prosecution of high-level corruption and improve public procurement process.
On the bright side, the Commission lauded Romania's recent adoption of new civil and criminal procedure codes.
It was the first time that the Commission's annual report accused Romania's political class of lacking will to fight corruption.
But the Commission does not plan any sanctions. It could suspend cooperation with the country on justice and home affairs issues or it could suspend EU aid funds if irregularities concerned them.
"We don't need at this stage to suspend EU funds. Now is not the time to talk about sanctions," Commission spokesman Mark Grey told a news briefing.
Bulgaria was making good progress on corruption, the report said, although it should still improve its courts, combat money laundering and target graft at borders and local government.