Romania’s Prime Minister accuses Western European leaders of double standards in criticising her country over corruption, cites France as an example
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Romanian Prime Minister Viorica Dăncilă accused Western European leaders of double standards in criticizing her country over corruption and a crackdown on anti-government protests.
Dăncilă, whose government holds the EU’s rotating presidency, said corruption is also a problem in Western Europe and noted there had been no outcry among EU leaders when French riot police clashed with protesters from the Yellow Jackets movement.
“I saw what happened with the Yellow Jackets in France,” she said, referring to the massive street protests against French President Emmanuel Macron’s policies which also resulted in violence. “No one had any reaction. It’s a double standard. I didn’t see anyone come to the European Parliament and say ‘We want a resolution on France.’”
The prime minister, flanked by the Romanian and EU flags, also pushed back against comparisons between her government and those in Budapest and Warsaw, both of which are in the midst of EU censure proceedings over accusations they are breaching the bloc’s fundamental values.
The prime minister’s remarks reflect tensions between Eastern and Western governments in the EU, which have heightened in recent years and threaten to make finding common ground among the bloc’s leaders increasingly difficult.
“Romania is not allowed what other countries are allowed to do,” Dăncilă said in an interview with POLITICO at the Victoria Palace, a grandiose building housing the government in central Bucharest.
Romania has faced growing criticism from the European Commission and the European Parliament in recent months, reflecting a view that the Eastern European country is backsliding in the fight against corruption and heading down the same illiberal path as Poland and Hungary.
Critics accuse the ruling Social Democrats (PSD) of trying to push through legal changes to weaken the independence of the judiciary and help politicians accused of corruption, including senior PSD officials such as party chief Liviu Dragnea.
The government has faced such criticism from at home from activists and President Klaus Iohannis, a former leader of the National Liberal party and longtime opponent of the Social Democrats who tried to stop the firing of the country’s top anti-corruption prosecutor last year. But the international condemnation seems to have stung the most.
