We are today publishing a joint report by Andrew Allison of The Freedom Association and Lisl Biggs-Davison of the Centre for Research into Post-Communist Economies (CRCE). In "Romania Country Report: Is Romania a Failing State" we highlight that thirty years on from the end of Ceausescu’s communist regime, Romania continues to disport a unique and wide-ranging combination of failings that when presented together represent a huge challenge both domestically within the country and to the EU.
Click HERE to read it
In 2020, Romania remains a country in which its showpiece national anti-corruption agency, the DNA, has itself not only used forgery, fabrication and intimidation against those it has often arbitrarily singled out for targeting but also it has been used as a proxy for the domestic intelligence service, the SRI, that has purposefully undermined the judiciary by using widespread and unconstitutional infiltration, influence and intimidation.
We have previously highlighted the case of Alexander Adamescu. The following is from the Friends of Alexander Adamescu website:
"Alexander's father, Dan Adamescu, was arrested and imprisoned in Romania (read more: Dan Adamescu’s trial) and later died as a result of the infections he contracted in prison (read more: Dan Adamescu’s death).
"Acting as any son would, Alexander contested the unfair trial his father received, the inhumane treatment he was subjected to whilst detained, and the government’s attempts to ruin the business his father had painstakingly built from nothing.
"It is these actions that drew the ire of the Romanian authorities and led to their attempts to extradite Alexander Adamescu on patently false charges. Unfortunately, the European Arrest Warrant system does not allow judges in the UK to refuse a request for extradition on the basis that there is no evidence (read more: Understanding the European Arrest Warrant (EAW)).
"Alexander Adamescu continues his fight against the European Arrest Warrant issued against him, convinced that if he is extradited to Romania he will not receive a fair trial. His greatest wish is to secure his freedom, and return to writing plays and spending quality time with his children without fear of being killed by the Romanian state, as his own father was."
Our joint report concludes that it is unacceptable for Romania as an EU member state to have a manifestly corrupt and unconstitutional ‘anti-corruption drive’; engage in acts of lawfare; have intelligence operatives influence and/or infiltrate various levels of its judiciary; have some of the worst human rights and prison conditions in the European Council; frequently violate freedom of the press and media; oversee the emigration of a sizeable proportion of its talent, and; remain incapable of building even basic forms of infrastructure, such as motorways, for its own people.
Click HERE to read the report
While the EU gets to work on resolving the issues that add up to making Romania a failing state, the UK must protect its own interests and limit its exposure. Given the evidence, it is no longer acceptable for the UK to treat Romania as a regular EU member state and must instead act with caution, checking the claims of the Romanian authorities against independent evidence and updating advice to travellers and business investors to reflect the reality on the ground. The serious problems in Romania’s criminal justice and prison systems mean it is most urgent that the UK halt extraditions to Romania immediately.