2008 is a true test for the Romanian Ministry of Justice and the team to rule over it. It is so because the safeguard clause may be applied on Romanian Justice if the results of the Justice reform and the fight against corruption are unsatisfying to the EU officials. Right now the dispute between Romanian Presidency and government is jeopardizing the ability to meet some main EU requirements. Moreover, this overt conflict is intensifying EU dissatisfaction with the slow progress of the reform in Romanian Justice and the lack of practical results in the fight against corruption. Priorities The new minister of Justice will have to settle fast some deficiencies in the legislation, which has been harming the judicial system since 2004. First of all this about harmonizing the Criminal Code and the Criminal Procedure Code with EU standards in order to prevent the EU officials from using the safeguard clause against Romanian Justice. Another obligation for the future minister of Justice is to take legislative initiatives to settle the flaws in the activity of the Superior Council of Magistracy, such as the aberrant attributions provided to prosecutors department in disfavor of most prosecutors. Not last, a problem of the judicial system is the muffling of complaints against magistrates, as practiced by the judicial inspectors in the Superior Council of Magistracy. Control over DNA The main reason for the dispute over the Ministry of Justice is the control over the DNA (National Anti-Corruption Department) and the Prosecutor's Office. As know, August 2008 means the end of the 3-year mandate entrusted to Daniel Morar, head of the DNA. The mandates of the other DNA officials - Mircea Zarie, Argentina Galca, Lucian Papici and Doru Tulus - are to be up to. Therefore every side is trying to make sure, via the minister of Justice, of control over the DNA in order to avoid the opening of some political cases and also of cases relying on facts. According to the law on the reform of Justice no. 247/ 2005 elaborated by the ex Justice minister Monica Macovei, the minister of Justice was given the right to recommend for the President of Romania prosecutors to head the Prosecutor's Office, the DNA and the DIICOT (Department to Counter International Organized Criminality and Terrorism). It is because of the same law reformed in 2005 that the Superior Council of Magistracy has got just a decorative part to play (the institution may only consent to the minister's proposals). It is therefore easy to understand why the choice for a new minister of Justice is so important. (...) Criminal cases and politics New DNA officials will mean the opening of criminal cases against some top politicians and businessmen, on grounds of complaints or denunciations. The five months left till the parliamentary elections due in December 2008 may bring lawsuits important to the shaping of the political stage in Romania. The same goes for the Prosecutor's Office, for the issue at stake is huge. It is the DIICOT of the Prosecutor's Office who handle cases involving harm less than 1 million Euro. And the Prosecutor's Office has so far pressed charges against a considerable number of politicians.

Silviu ALUPEI