Romania's political establishment voted overwhelmingly to restrict public access to officials' asset declarations, with only the opposition Save Romania Union (USR) supporting continued transparency—a move that threatens to reverse years of anti-corruption progress just as Bucharest seeks full integration into the EU's Schengen Area.
In a Senate Human Rights Commission vote this week, all parliamentary parties except USR voted against keeping asset declarations accessible to ordinary citizens, following a Constitutional Court decision that blocked their publication last year. The ruling Social Democratic Party (PSD), center-right National Liberal Party (PNL), and far-right Alliance for Romanian Unity (AUR) united behind the restrictions.
"What do the old parties have to hide? Why are they afraid of transparency and citizens?" asked Sorin Șipoș, USR's Timiș County president, in remarks that captured the party's isolation on the issue. Simona Spătaru, a USR senator, emphasized that "only USR voted for declarations to remain accessible to any citizen," arguing that transparency is essential to combat corruption—identified as a national security concern in the country's defense strategy.
USR's proposal would have maintained public access while anonymizing sensitive personal data like family member information and exact property addresses—a compromise intended to address privacy concerns raised by the Constitutional Court while preserving the core principle of transparency.
The backsliding comes at an awkward moment for Romania. The country has spent years building its anti-corruption credentials, with the National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA) securing high-profile convictions and street protests in 2017-2019 blocking government attempts to weaken anti-corruption laws. Public asset declarations became a cornerstone of that transparency regime, allowing journalists and civil society to scrutinize officials' wealth accumulation.
Yet the political class—spanning ideological divides—has now coalesced around limiting that scrutiny. For , as across Eastern Europe, the transition is not over—it's ongoing. The country joined the EU in 2007 but remains subject to the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism, a special monitoring regime for judicial reform and anti-corruption efforts. Full Schengen membership, blocked primarily by over migration concerns, depends partly on demonstrating continued progress on rule-of-law issues.
