ForMin Melescanu: Romanians deserve fair justice; Romania second in complaints to ECHR, after Russian Federation

Romanian citizens have the right to benefit from a fair justice, an autonomous justice, Minister of Foreign Affairs Teodor Melescanu told Digi 24 private television channel on Sunday evening, also underscoring that "Romania comes second by the number of complaints filed with the European Court of Human Rights, after the Russian Federation." 

"Romanian citizens have the right to benefit from a fair justice, an autonomous justice, and also, as much as possible, to benefit from even more than the legal norms in Romania, which is precisely what we are trying to do during this time with the modifications that we are trying to bring to certain normative acts, and we also need to consider that fact that, right now, Romania comes second by the number of complaints filed with the ECHR, after the Russian Federation, which proves that we also need to consider the provisions of the international treaties such as the European Convention of Human Rights when making decisions at justice level," said the head of diplomacy. 

He also spoke about the message sent to Romania by the leader of ALDE in the European Parliament, Guy Verhofstadt, on the occasion of the taking over by Romania of the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union, and described the message as "an encouraging one." 

"In the second half of his speech, he also makes very clear references about the rule of law in Romania, the need to modify the provisions of the Criminal Code and Criminal Procedure Code, including such provisions that refer to the law regarding the activity of the non-governmental and the other organisations. I assure you that ALDE (Alliance of Liberals and Democrats) will clearly adopt these ideas, considering also the fact that Romania needs a functional rule of law right now, based on compliance with the laws adopted by Parliament, and not based on protocols, and trials, which for some bring convictions and for others acquittals, while evidence is missing in both cases," said the Minister of Foreign Affairs. 

He also added that the leader of ALDE in Romania, Calin Popescu-Tariceanu, was 'among those who were very loud when it came to the need of strengthening rule of law in Romania, justice independence and ensuring the best functioning of justice, so that the citizens will trust justice again." 

The leader of ALDE in the European Parliament, Guy Verhofstadt also wished Romania good luck at the presidency of the Council of the European Union "during critical times," when several legislative negotiations must be brought to an end before the European elections. 

In his message on Thursday on his official Facebook page, Verhofstadt also refers to the government's commitments and the place of Romanian Liberals in the European ALDE family. 

"Romania takes over the presidency of the European Union in a critical time, when there are several such legislative negotiations that need to be brought to an end before the European elections. I wish them good luck. At the same time, the government needs to meets its commitments related to the rule of law: reform of justice, criminal code and the law on NGOs must reflect all the recommendations made by the Venice Commission and they must be assessed by this organism before coming into force. The Romanian Liberals promised to follow this path and we expect them to do it. If they do this, they will have their well deserved place in the ALDE family. If they don't, they won't," said Verhofstadt.