I am deeply disappointed by the injustice being done today to Deputy Prime Minister Cătălin Predoiu. The most important thing is that those currently in leadership positions should know that the accusations are fabricated lies. Had it not been for Predoiu and others last winter, this governing majority would not exist. For now, he remains one of the people who helped save Romania last year—and I thank him once again.
As for the justice laws, not only I, as ambassador, but everyone in government and across political parties closely followed the process by which they were adopted. Everyone knows exactly how it unfolded, even if today some try to claim otherwise.
Facts:
Predoiu debated the justice laws for more than a year with the judicial system. I know from him at the time that he did not advance the laws until all amendments from the prosecutor’s offices were included. I also know that the prosecutors provided written confirmation that the drafts were acceptable.
After public debate, Predoiu took the laws to Brussels and discussed them with Commission experts and Commissioners. Once consensus was reached with the European Commission, he took the laws to the Superior Council of Magistracy (CSM), where he obtained approval with great difficulty—but he obtained it.
After Brussels, Predoiu took the laws to the Venice Commission, which issued a positive opinion, including on the procedure for appointing prosecutors.
Only after all this did Predoiu submit the laws to the Romanian Parliament, which debated and approved them.
After adoption, the College of Commissioners discussed and approved the MCV Report, also prepared by Predoiu. It was the final MCV report. The Commission informed the European Parliament that it would repeal the 2006 Commission Decision establishing the MCV—after 16 years.
Perhaps reading the above makes it seem easy. Each of these steps was nearly impossible work. Predoiu succeeded while facing pressure from various judicial institutions and groups, each wanting the laws shaped in a particular way. He achieved consensus and reconciliation that, I admit now, I did not believe possible. Anyone who thinks such a result can be achieved without deep knowledge, immense mediation talent, extraordinary patience, and intuitive intelligence does not understand what they are talking about. This is the man some are demonizing and attacking today.
Prior to all this, Predoiu and his team worked tirelessly on drafting the laws themselves—a complex task in its own right. Any lawyer knows how difficult it is to draft a contract, let alone laws with hundreds of articles that must be aligned and integrated into an abstract, complex mechanism. Not every mind can grasp such complexity, with all due respect.
Predoiu’s work restored Romanian magistrates’ dignity, ending their treatment as second-class professionals in Europe. Implicitly, it removed Romania from the position of a second-class European country.
The same applies to Schengen. Romania would not have entered Schengen when it did without Predoiu. It is still too early to fully understand the strategic significance of lifting the MCV and achieving Schengen accession for Romania.
Returning to the magistrates: what they did with the dignity gained after the lifting of the MCV is their responsibility, not Predoiu’s. He has not been minister for almost four years. After all he did for his country—without noise or personal publicity—turning public opinion against him today for political reasons is disgraceful and unjust. And it is visible internationally, I guarantee it. It is a shame for the world to see a country treat this way those who defended and strengthened it.
The time has come for Romania and the Romanian people to recognize authentic value where it truly exists.
— Adrian Zuckerman
Originally published in Romanian on https://www.antena3.ro/opinii/adrian-zuckerman-sunt-foarte-dezamagit-de-nedreptatea-care-i-se-face-lui-catalin-predoiu-770226.html and translated for Alianta.
