The centre-right European People’s Party (EPP) and the liberal Renew Europe group urged the European Commission on Tuesday to consider freezing €770 million in EU funds earmarked for Romania.
In a letter to Commission President Ursula von der Leyen seen by Euronews, the leaders of the two groups, Manfred Weber and Valérie Hayer, called for money from the EU’s post-pandemic Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) to be withheld, arguing that it could “inadvertently contribute to undermining Romanian democracy.”
At the heart of their concerns is a disputed law that they say could target liberal leader and Timișoara Mayor Dominic Fritz, a prominent political figure in Romania.
The law governing integrity in public office, recently approved by Romania’s Parliament, could remove Fritz, the leader of the Save Romania Union (USR), from office over a previous conflict-of-interest case.
A provision introduced by the Romanian Socialist Party (PSD) stipulates that officials with a final conflict-of-interest finding, whose three-year sanction period has not yet expired, would have their mandates terminated within 30 days of the new law entering into force.
