Victor Ponta’s new government got off on the right foot last week by making clear that its economic policy will continue to be framed within the programme agreed between Romania and the EU, World Bank, and IMF. The IMF programme sets out what Romania needs to do, both in terms of fiscal consolidation and structural reforms, to create a path to sustainable economic growth. At a time of uncertainty in the wider European economy, the assurance that Romania is sticking with the programme is important to investors and Romania’s international partners. As IMF’s Jeffrey Franks observed in his conclusions of his mission last week, the priorities now are to press ahead with the reforms of state owned enterprises and to make further progress in dealing with government arrears.
The other positive development last week was the unanimous adoption by the Parliament of the law implementing Romania’s new Civil Procedure Code. This is one of the main planks of Romania’s effort to reform the judicial system and tackle corruption through the EU’s Cooperation and Verification Mechanism. I see this reform as fundamental to all others, since it lays the foundation for a successful economy and the efficient working of the state. There has been good progress in recent months, notably the adoption of legislation on extended confiscation and the processing of high level corruption cases. One of the government’s main priorities should be to ensure that this is sustained.