Bucharest, 10 October 2025

Press Release

Responsibility and constructive debate are needed to strengthen public integrity

Transparency International Romania welcomes the Romanian Government’s initiative to bring back onto the public agenda a topic of fundamental importance: strengthening integrity in public office.

The draft law amending and supplementing Law no. 176/2010 on integrity in the exercise of public offices and positions, approved yesterday by the Government, represents an important step toward preventing conflicts of interest and acts of corruption. It lays the groundwork for a unified legal framework governing pre- and post-employment restrictions for individuals who are about to hold, currently hold, or have previously held public offices or positions.

The next step—the parliamentary debate on the legislative act—is essential. This is the moment for political parties and parliamentary groups to approach this initiative with responsibility and to encourage constructive debate, so that the resulting legislation meets the highest applicable standards.

Transparency International Romania will closely monitor the debates in both chambers of Parliament on this matter and will actively engage in identifying the most appropriate solutions to enable an accelerated and effective adoption of the legislative act.

At the same time, we invite civil society organizations, representatives of the business community, and integrity experts to join us in this endeavour—a collective effort to promote public integrity in Romania.

Through its studies and advocacy activities, our organization has consistently called for the updating and unification of the integrity legislative framework, including the revision and acceleration of the implementation of regulations on pantouflage and cooling-off periods, with the aim of preventing conflicts of interest and acts of corruption. Such recommendations were included in the research report Business Integrity Country Agenda. Furthermore, within the NIAct project, implemented in partnership with the National Integrity Agency and the Ministry of Justice, we carried out a comprehensive analysis of the integrity legislative framework, focusing on inconsistencies, ambiguities, and omissions that undermine the effectiveness of Romania’s integrity system. The resulting document forms the basis of a legislative intervention proposal aimed at updating the package of integrity laws.

Consistent with its mission and the values promoted for over more than 20 years of activity, Transparency International Romania reiterates that sustained engagement is required from all segments of society—from the political sector and public institutions to the private sector and citizens—each having a distinct role and responsibility in combating corruption and promoting integrity.

Note to Editors – Background Information

At present, regulated cooling-off periods are very rarely monitored, if at all, and the majority of Romanian institutions lack a strategy for monitoring pantouflage situations. There is no regulated cooling-off period for individuals who have held high level positions in the private sector and wish to become high-ranking civil servants or to assume governmental positions. Consequently, there is no legal mechanism in place to assess the potential conflicts of interest prior to appointment.

With regard to cooling-off periods applicable to public positions, only three highly specific situations are currently regulated:

• a one-year cooling-off period imposed on public officials and civil servants involved in the awarding of public procurement contracts, if they intend to work with one of the companies selected through the procurement process;
• a three-year cooling-off period imposed exclusively on civil servants (and not on other categories of public officials) who want to work with private companies that they have monitored, supervised, or audited in the course of their public duties;
• a five-year cooling-off period imposed only to persons involved in the evaluation of project proposals for the allocation of European funds, if they intend to work with a company or NGO that has obtained European funding.

Among the recommendations formulated by the OECD in this area is the need to ensure that the planned reform of conflict-of-interest management before and after public service is extended beyond certain narrowly defined categories of public officials, so as to cover all positions exposed to integrity risks, including elected offices. Romania’s accession to the OECD is closely linked to the strengthening of the legal framework governing public integrity.