The maintainance of the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism on justice and the critiques addressed to Romania are not discriminatory , on the contrary, it reveals the high level of corruption and a unilateral denunciation is not something Romania can afford, Transparency International Romania reads in a press release, quoted by Romanian news agency Agerpres.

The press release reads that the mechanism is included in the treaty Romania signed when it joined the EU. The organization claims that the mechanism will bring about progress in the judicial system and in the fight against corruption but says that the mechanism is not enough to reduce vulnerabilities.

EC’s Spokesperson Mark Gray declared on Tuesday, January 4th that according to procedures the monitoring mechanism can only be ceased based on the Commission’s decision after the fourth pillars of judicial reform are correlated.

He underlined that the Commission is the one to decide on the matter.

In an interview for Romanian daily Adevarul, Romania’s Foreign Affairs Teodor Baconschi said that Romania can condition Croatia’s joining the EU and can denounce unilaterally the monitoring mechanism on justice if it is used as a pressure in other sectors and it becomes a handicap for Romania.