Members of the first overseas grant-review panel to operate in Romania wrote a letter of concern in this week’s issue of Nature while praising the review system introduced a year ago:

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v492/n7428/full/492186c.html#/supplementary-information

„…we are therefore concerned to learn that the research minister intends to discontinue the use of international referees (Nature http://doi.org/jwn; 2012) in a scheme originally drawn up to improve the country’s scientific and ethical standing.”

[…]

„Young Romanian scientists will be heartened to learn that this round of grant funding met all international standards of scrutiny and peer review. It will be most unfortunate for Romania to thwart this progress towards improving its international research status.”