EC triggers infringement against Romania over independence of telecom market regulator

The European Commission started the infringement procedure against Romania for a serious breaching of the Accession Treaty regarding the independence of telecom market regulator ANC which was set up following an emergency ordinance.

During the former government the telecommunications authority, back then ANRCTI and headed by Dan Georgescu, was reorganized and transformed into ANC through an emergency ordinance. Georgescu was dimissed.

The decision was no surprise to local authorities, as the European commissioner in the field, Viviane Reding, phoned the new IT&C minister, Gabriel Sandu, this morning, to inform him.

The commissioner assured the new minister the measure to trigger an infringement procedure is not directed to this government, but is a consequence of the outgoing Liberal government’s actions.

For the Commission, it is of crucial importance to avoid another hasty restructuring of Romania's telecoms regulator and to find a more sustainable institutional solution fully reflecting the letter and the spirit of EU rules on the independence of regulators, the release from the commissioner read.

The EC will make several recommendations to Romanian authorities and only if these are ignored will the case go the European Court of Justice.

Already in 2006, right before Romania's accession to the EU, the government reorganized the Regulatory Authority through emergency legislation preventing the enforcement of a court ruling imposing the reinstallation of the regulator’s president removed by the prime minister in 2005.