Din nou in "The Economist"

In ciclul despre lichele, vroiam astazi sa continui cu o intrare dedicata lui Victor Ponta. Intre timp am gasit in versiunea online a lui The Economist articolul Hiccups on the road to EU membership. Pe moment ma scuteste sa spun mai multe; cel putin pentru cei ce au auzit recent opiniile "experte" ale susnumitului.

In Romania, the upper house of parliament, the Senate, last week rejected a law that would have created a powerful new national anti-corruption department with the power to investigate legislators.

Then this week a parliamentary committee in the lower house, the Chamber of Deputies, rejected a request by the justice minister, Monica Macovei, to approve search warrants on a town house and country mansion bought cheaply by a former prime minister, Adrian Nastase. In a striking example of Romania's remaining distance from European ideas about conflict of interest, Mr Nastase himself chaired the committee. One of the ?big fish? now under investigation for corruption, he is due to be interviewed by prosecutors on February 16th (he denies all wrongdoing).

The Romanian authorities lost both votes because their supporters were absent. 24 members of the Senate stayed away; in Mr Nastase's committee, one key government supporter was ill; another, mysteriously, claimed a pressing engagement moments before the vote.

These are setbacks illustrating the weakness of Romania's government in giving its anti-corruption efforts teeth; they are not yet disasters. Foreign embassies, and an alliance of eight anti-corruption pressure groups, are urging the government to step up its political support for the new law, and for the thorough investigation of Mr Nastase.

An EU mission, including the Commission's secretary-general, José Manuel Barroso, and the enlargement commissioner, Olli Rehn, will visit the Balkans this week and chivvy the applicants further. That usually helps concentrate minds on adopting western norms, albeit belatedly and even superficially. But what happens once they are in?