Bucharest, 6 August 2025
Press Release
The fight against corruption must return to the forefront of the public agenda
Transparency International Romania draws attention to the fact that, in the recent years, the fight against corruption has no longer featured as prominently on Romania’s public agenda. The repercussions of this decline are easy to observe and are reflected in the most recent international reports concerning our country.
The GRECO Compliance Report, released on 5 August 2025, finds that only two of the 26 recommendations issued in September 2023 have been fully implemented. The report evaluates the measures adopted by the Romanian authorities to implement recommendations relating to the prevention of corruption and the promotion of integrity at central level (top executive functions) and within law enforcement institutions. A very large number of recommendations (22) remain only partially implemented, while two had not been implemented at all by the time progress was reported, in December 2024. Among the partially implemented recommendations are several key reforms that Transparency International Romania has consistently emphasized in its projects and public communications. These include the need for a uniform and comprehensive legislative framework on integrity standards, improved access to public data, the promotion of transparency principles and the disclosure of meetings between senior officials and influential stakeholders, the protection of whistleblowers acting in the public interest, and the encouragement of ethical conduct.
In this context, we highlight the NIAct project, in which Transparency International Romania partnered with the National Integrity Agency and the Ministry of Justice. This project is acknowledged in the Compliance Report as a positive step toward implementing Recommendation IV—namely, the conduct of a comprehensive analytical study of the existing integrity legal framework and, in light of its findings, the revision of the current integrity framework in order to enhance its clarity, coherence, and completeness. More specifically, the project delivered an in-depth analysis of the current legislative framework on integrity, focusing on inconsistencies, ambiguities, and omissions that weaken the efficiency and effectiveness of Romania’s integrity system, while also providing examples of good practices. The proposed legislative intervention to amend the package of integrity laws remains under debate, with the authorities holding legislative initiative powers in this field yet to finalize the process.
The GRECO report concludes that, over the next 18 months, public institutions must mobilize and take effective action to comply with the recommendations addressed to Romania. The Group of States against Corruption (GRECO) was established in 1999 by the Council of Europe to monitor member states’ compliance with anti-corruption standards.
The 2025 Rule of Law Report on Romania, released in July by the European Commission, also highlights the need for the fight against corruption to remain a key government priority and for particular emphasis to be placed on addressing pressing issues, such as ensuring the effectiveness of the asset declaration system, in light of this year’s decision of the Constitutional Court of Romania concerning Law no. 176/2010.
Furthermore, the Rule of Law Report references Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index 2024 and Romania’s stagnant score in recent years, noting that expert assessments and business perceptions indicate that corruption in the public sector remains at a high level.
In light of the above, Transparency International Romania stresses the need for the fight against corruption to return to the center of the public agenda and to be treated as a priority issue in its own right, rather than as a secondary topic. Observing the largely stagnant nature of anti-corruption reforms in recent years, our organization emphasizes that civil society has historically played a major role in Romania’s progress toward improving the legal framework on integrity. It is therefore essential that dialogue between NGOs and public institutions be maintained and actively encouraged. In 2025 Romania needs the promotion of active citizenship, greater citizen involvement in decision-making processes, and public oversight of public policies, including in the field of anti-corruption. Transparency International Romania reaffirms its openness to cooperation with the competent authorities and with civil society partners in order to strengthen collaboration in the fight against corruption.