Senate's Tariceanu: CVM is not God on Earth

Senate president Calin Popescu-Tariceanu declared that he is "curiously waiting" for the CVM (Cooperation and Verification Mechanism) report for Romania, adding that this mechanism "is not God on Earth." 

"For 11 years the CVM report has been showing us that Romania is constantly making efforts, but never reaches the finish line. So long as the CVM report has kept an unjustified silence, I wouldn't say suspicious, but a silence that is not alright, in regard with the existing protocols, with serious violations and slippage from Justice, like what happened to the DNA (National Anticorruption Directorate), allow me to say that... I am curiously waiting for the CVM report, which I think it can only speak of a part of the problems, the rest being ignored," Tariceanu said on Tuesday, at private TV broadcaster Digi24. 

He says that Romania has made "a series of efforts, reforms" in regards to fighting corruption. 

"We started with four recommendations and now we reached 12. Each time the report said that Romania made progress, but they added something, and added something... In Brussels we have a lot of officials who want to justify their existence. There are good salaries, comfortable positions, exceptional pensions. I am not the only one making such remarks. What happened with the CVM is not right. I am not fond of speaking of my neighbors, but this time I have no other explanation to give. In Bulgaria there hasn't been anything done for the past 11 years, like nothing. (...) There are no talks about anything in Bulgaria. There are taboo topics that they will not discuss. There is no Bulgarian MP that will bring into discussion in the European Parliament... Bulgaria apparently, because this is not the reality, is better than Romania. I mean Romania made a series of efforts, reforms, had a successful journey in fighting corruption. Sure, there were excesses, abuses, and so on .... Let's just say that there were things that were handled correctly. Well, Romania is not being awarded for that, despite the fact that it made some efforts. The CVM report, I'm telling you, I am curiously looking forward to seeing it," he said. 

"We asked the European Commission to say who the experts are, the ones that feed back information from the country. Total opacity. Nothing. They do not want to say a word. (...) CVM is not God on Earth (...) because people work for the CVM, people with sympathies, antipathies, they can make mistakes, because mistakes are human. We presume they are well intended, but they are also subjected to the same risks and traps where we can all fall into. That does not mean that the document, once elaborated, is perfect, that there are no points that might contain mistakes, beyond criticism, it's eye clean, it's the law. (...) CVM was not thought out to function indefinitely. Romania made important progresses. There is a certain moment, where myself and many others noticed, this mechanism is used as an instrument of control, not verification, because progresses were made," Tariceanu opined.