On a list of unenviable jobs in Europe, leading the fight against corruption in Romania would be close to the top.

Romanian politicians have long been under suspicion of not playing by the rules, the EU conducts regular appraisals of the country’s fight against graft, and last year tens of thousands took to the streets chanting “corruption kills” and calling for sweeping changes to the political elite.

They got their way. The government of Victor Ponta fell and in November in came a team of technocrats, led by Dacian Cioloș, a former European commissioner. His choice to take over the hot seat of justice minister was Raluca Prună.

“When I took on this role … it was obvious to me that I wouldn’t be able to make everybody happy,” Prună told POLITICO. “I didn’t come here to make people happy or unhappy, I came here to be a responsible minister.”

Time is not on her side; the Cioloș-led government will be in charge for a maximum of a year before fresh elections and the return of the politicians.

Romania is getting results on corruption.

But Romania is getting results on corruption. Such was the level of concern about the rule of law in Romania and Bulgaria when they joined the EU in 2007 that a review process was set up to monitor judicial reform and the fight against corruption in the two countries — it’s called the Co-operation and Verification Mechanism (CVM).

The latest CVM report came out Wednesday, and there was encouragement for the justice minister and her team, with European Commission First Vice President Frans Timmermans saying: “Romania and Romanians have shown their willingness to fight corruption and to protect the independence of the judiciary.”

“The mass demonstrations against corruption have shown how these issues matter to Romanian citizens. Over the last year we have seen the professionalism, commitment and good track record of the judiciary and the anti-corruption prosecution and reforms being internalized.”

There is, however, lots more to be done. The Commission said that “reform does not enjoy the full consensus necessary to assure sustainable progress. Judicial independence and respect for court decisions continue to be challenged.”

Before Prună most likely leaves office she’ll have to choose her team of prosecutors to keep up the forward momentum. The mandates of most top-level prosecutors expire in spring 2016, and it’s Prună’s job to keep them in or kick them out.

“The public will pay very close attention to the nominations,” Alina Gorghiu, co-president of the National Liberal Party, told POLITICO. “We want a transparent procedure which generates appointments of people who have had results in the fight against corruption and that are appreciated by the Romanian society and by our external partners.”

Among the group of prosecutors is Laura Codruța Kövesi, head of the National Anticorruption Directorate, and Romania’s POLITICO 28 representative.

Kövesi is likely to to have her mandate renewed for three years, given the accolades she’s received for taking on corruption cases involving such high-profile figures as the brother of former president Traian Băsescu and Victor Ponta.

The resignation of Prime Minister Ponta and his team followed mass protests after a Bucharest nightclub fire in October 2015 that claimed 63 lives. The club, Colectiv, was allowed to remain open for years before the deadly blaze even though it didn’t meet even basic fire-safety standards.

The Ponta case and others helped make the latest CVM report a broadly positive one. “We have signals that show what agencies such as the National Anticorruption Directorate, the High Court of Cassation and Justice and the National Integrity Agency — which investigates conflict of interest — are doing will be reflected in a positive way,” Prună said during a visit to Brussels ahead of Wednesday’s report on corruption.

Still under scrutiny

But it was not all good news, with the Commission saying that “decisions in Parliament on whether to allow the anti-corruption prosecution to treat parliamentarians like other citizens still lack objective criteria. There have been improved steps to tackle general corruption, but not on the scale and with the political will required to address it as a systemic problem.”

The scale of the problem in parliament is huge: of the 588 members of the Romanian parliament, one in 10 has had problems with the law, according to national media reports.

While some Romanian diplomats in Brussels grumble about the continuing need for the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism, Prună is more relaxed. Romania needs to prove its success in fighting corruption and ensuring the independence of the judiciary before the mechanism can come to an end, she said.

Asked if it was unfair for Romania and Bulgaria to be the only ones being monitored in such a way, given the rightward shifts in Hungary and more recently Poland, the Romanian justice minister said the situations were not the same.

“The difference with Poland and Hungary … is that we have a Cooperation and Verification Mechanism that puts a healthy pressure on the institutions. The other member states don’t have it,” she said.

“In some areas, I believe that Romania and some of its institutions … are a model of best practice at European level.”

Slicing up red tape

She should know. A lawyer by training, Prună worked for the Commission’s delegation in Romania between 2000 and 2004, at the height of the country’s accession talks. She then moved to Brussels, working in the Commission, Council and Parliament, before, a decade later, heading back to Bucharest.

One of her main tasks in the justice ministry is to cut red tape and simplify procedures, with a restructuring planned before the end of February. An aim is to set up an agency in charge of recovering damages from corruption cases, although Prună acknowledged that such a move won’t be nearly enough to deter politicians from getting rich through corruption and abuse of their position.

Prună scored a recent PR victory in the fight against corruption when she broke up the jailed writers’ party by proposing a measure that would stop corrupt politicians and businessmen reducing their sentences by publishing “scientific works.”

“Justice and the continuation of the fight against corruption occupy all the top 10 priorities on citizens’ agenda.”

The special provision, which dates back to the Communist era, reduces a convict’s sentence by 30 days for each scientific work they write and publish. Prună said the loophole has been abused and must be closed. The government is expected to vote on the provision in early February.

Eugen Tomac, executive president of the Popular Movement Party, a new party led by ex-president Băsescu, welcomed Prună’s jailed writers’ proposal but was critical of the Cioloș government. “I believe society’s expectations were very high after the Colectiv tragedy. Unfortunately we are seeing a very slow and fragile process regarding these changes that the government has to bring about,” he said.

A spokesperson for the Social Democrats, the party that was in government until November, said no one was available for comment, but the party has been a vocal critic of the technocratic government in recent weeks.

The National Liberal Party’s Gorghiu said it was too early to assess the government’s performance, but warned: “Justice and the continuation of the fight against corruption occupy all the top 10 priorities on citizens’ agenda.”