Romania assumed the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union this month – its first time at the helm – giving it a powerful voice to set certain policy goals for the Union to work towards over the next six months and beyond. But the position also brings with it heightened scrutiny of the Bucharest government at a time when EU officials and human rights and democracy advocates are raising the alarm over threats to fundamental rights and the rule of law.

Amnesty for cronies

And they've just been given a new reason to be concerned: earlier this month, Justice Minister Tudorel Toader announced that the government was preparing an emergency decree that cancels past corruption convictions against politicians and other elites and curtails or ends existing investigations. The government claims the decree is being passed to free up space in the country's overcrowded prisons, but it's difficult to imagine how voiding the convictions of people that often avoid jail time altogether will achieve this aim.

But it will expunge criminal convictions against numerous elites, giving them not only a clean background but also the legal ability to once again hold public office (convicted criminals are barred by law from holding government jobs). This is super news for Liviu Dragnea, the head of the ruling party in Romania. He'd probably be prime minister, too, were it not for a corruption conviction. In his case, it involved vote-rigging, which is just the sort of background you want in someone wishing to lead a democracy. It's rumored that he will be at the front of the amnesty line should the decree become law, so look out, Romanian democracy.

Dragnea's case actually serves to undermine the government's excuse for the amnesty decree: he served precisely zero days in prison for crimes that could have landed him a years-long sentence. It's true that other corrupt politicians have been given sentences of a few years, though they are often paroled early. One politician convicted of bribery even ran for mayor of Bucharest despite supposedly serving a prison sentence of four years. In a country with tens of thousands of inmates, it's laughable to suggest that amnesty for corrupt politicians, even if they number in the hundreds, is a legitimate way of freeing up jail cells.

A sordid, but improving, situation

The decree is especially depressing now. Despite the scale of corruption in Romania, the country has in recent years made real progress in fighting it. Hundreds of officials – MPs, government ministers, mayors, judges and prosecutors – have been brought to justice. The European Commission has even cited Romania’s anti-corruption agency as one of the five best in the EU.

That agency is the National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA). Formed in 2002, it's responsible for investigating and prosecuting corruption-related crimes, and it has been busy. Laura Codruta Kovesi took charge of the agency in 2013 and quickly upped the staff and intensity of its investigations. In 2014 alone, the agency successfully prosecuted dozens of mayors, five MPs, two ex-ministers and a former prime minister. Hundreds of judges and prosecutors were also prosecuted. Kovesi had a 90 percent conviction rate against some of the most powerful and connected defendants in the country, and Romanians noticed: according to a 2015 poll, 60 percent of Romanians said they trusted the DNA, while only 11 percent said they trusted Parliament. The next year, Kovesi’s office obtained convictions against four mayors, three government ministers, a regional judge, an MEP and six MPs – including Dragnea.

Needless to say, Kovesi probably wasn’t making many friends in government, but she was making enemies. In February of last year, Justice Minister Toader – yes, that Justice Minister Toader – started a procedure to remove Kovesi, and by July she was gone. Her replacement lasted half a year before resigning due to the hostile working environment created by politicians and government-friendly media. This likely contributed to Romania's place on Transparency International's 2018 Corruption Perceptions Index: 25th of 28 EU countries. Should the amnesty decree pass, Romania would be well on its way to an even worse showing in next year's index, though it would likely have competition from Bulgaria, Greece, and Hungary in the race to the bottom.

It's not just a Romanian issue

In many ways, Romania’s new corruption decree seems like an own goal. It was announced just as the country was thrown under the spotlight of the EU presidency, and on the heels of warnings from the EU over the independence of its judiciary and the freedom of NGOs. But it's less surprising given how brazenly other EU countries, namely Hungary and Poland, have completely ignored EU law and values, and with little consequence (at least so far). And, like what's happening in Hungary and Poland, Romania's corruption is an EU-wide problem. Romania accounts for a fair chunk of the estimated €904 billion lost to corruption across the EU each year. Even more directly, several Romanian corruption cases have involved fraud and misuse of EU funds, including one case against Dragnea (but not the one he was convicted for – yes, he's a rather busy fellow).

With Romania at the head of the EU table, it's a good time for other member states to put aside their table manners and ramp up pressure on the government to fully restore the rule of law and take seriously the fight against corruption. At present, however, Romania's EU presidency looks set to begin with yet another setback for Romanian citizens, who have been repeatedly betrayed by their government.