Romanian president Basescu says integrity body was almost dismantled in a move against Romania's interest

The National Agency of Integrity (ANI) – a body supervising the wealth statements of public officials – was almost dismantled by a decision of the Constitutional Court which pleased some but was against the interest of Romania, President Traian Basescu said on Tuesday.

He said the activity of the Agency contributed to Romania’s being able to gain back credibility in its process to remove a EU safeguard clause on justice and to shorten the period of EU monitoring of the Romanian justice sector.

Two chapters of the ANI functioning law were declared unconstitutional by the Constitutional Court last week. One of the first effects of the decision is that public officials’ wealth statements would no longer be public, which removes the main responsibilities from ANI: MPs, ministers and others are no longer forced by law to make their wealth and interest statements public.