The Romanian senate today approved a law that attempts to defuse a row over the constitutional status of the country's anti-corruption agency, dpa quoted officials as saying. The law, however, effectively softens the surveillance capabilities of the National Agency for Integrity (ANI) - thereby leaving Justice Minister Catalin Predoiu to predict that it will not satisfy the European Commission, which has been lobbying for stricter anti-corruption measures. Romania, which joined the EU in 2007, is under special observation by the Commission because of its problems with administrative corruption. ANI had, from its inception in 2007 until now, functioned by requiring public officials to submit earnings and wealth declarations, and then reporting any perceived irregularities to state prosecutors. But Romania's constitutional court ruled in April that ANI transgressed certain provisions of the constitution by being both an investigative agency and a quasi-judicial body. According to the new law agreed to on Wednesday, officials will have to continue to submit declarations, but will not have them fully published as had previously been the case. -- SPA
