Graft at home overshadows Romania's EU presidency

In early December, the president of the commission Jean-Claude Juncker offered diplomatic platitudes on Romania's importance in the EU when appearing alongside the country's premier Viorica Dancila at a joint press conference in Brussels.

But over the weekend, in an interview with German newspaper Welt am Sonntag, Juncker took a more severe tone.

He said while Romania was "technically well-prepared" for the EU presidency, it had yet to fully grasp what it means to take the chair over the EU countries.

"What is more, Romania's internal situation is such that the country cannot act as a compact unit in Europe," he said, noting that Bucharest needs to present a united front at home to foster EU unity.

European Council president Donald Tusk on Tuesday issued a more conciliatory message in a tweet, saying he was confident of Romania's presidency.

But these statements follow a critical commission report on Romania, which took issue with Romania's amended justice laws, the pressure on judicial independence in general, and efforts to undermine its national anti-corruption directorate (DNA).

Frans Timmermans, the commission vice-president, at the time said Romania had not only stalled on reforms but also "backtracked on issues where progress was made over the past 10 years".

He also defended the importance of press freedoms in the country following threats by Romania's data protection chief to impose a €20m fine on investigative journalists.

In its defence, Romania's government says the criticism is unfair and unjustified.

One of the EU's most vocal critics is the disgraced ruling Social Democrats (PSD) party leader, Liviu Dragnea.

"I can no longer accept all the lies coming from the West saying that we make laws for our own benefit," he recently said.

Dragnea was sentenced to some three years in prison in June for abuse of office, adding to prior convictions for electoral fraud. He has since appealed the sentence.

Last year, he was accused by the DNA of committing fraud of EU funds and setting up an organised criminal group.

His ally and party member Mihai Fifor on Monday said the European Union was treating Romania as a second-rate nation.

Around a month after the PSD party won the elections in December 2016, the left-wing government moved to decriminalise corruption, triggering some of the largest street protests ever held in Romania.