Brussels is worried that the Romanian government’s proposal to let non-violent criminals out of jail before their sentences are completed will undermine the fight against corruption, the European Commission said Wednesday.

The Social Democrat government in Bucharest says the aim is to relieve overcrowding in prisons, but the opposition views it as a ruse to free politicians convicted of corruption. There were public protests last week against the draft emergency decree to commute sentences and the Romanian president has called for a referendum on the issue.

The Commission praised the work of the Romanian Anti-Corruption Directorate (DNA), which “has established an impressive track record in terms of solving high and medium-level corruption cases.” But attacks by politicians and the media on the justice system are a threat to such efforts, it said, advising Romanian authorities to avoid “negative steps which call into question the progress made so far.”

The Commission’s warning came in a footnote to an annual report presented Wednesday that is part of a monitoring scheme of Romania and neighboring Bulgaria’s progress in weeding out corruption and strengthening the judiciary.

The scheme has been in place since the two countries joined the EU 10 years ago and Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker wants to end it by October 2019, when his term in office expires. Clear targets for that date should “act as an incentive to accelerate the process,” said one Commission official.

The Commission’s outlook for Bulgaria was bleaker than for Romania. “Over the past 10 years, overall progress has not been as fast as hoped for. A number of significant challenges remain to be addressed,” the report said.

While Bulgaria has made some progress on judicial reform, its anti-corruption strategy is still at an early stage and whoever takes over the government after March’s snap elections “will need to drive reform forward to secure irreversible results,” the report said.

Romania and Bulgaria want an end to the corruption monitoring scheme, which they say is used by other EU countries as an excuse to keep them out of the passport-free Schengen zone. The Commission denies there is any link between the two issues.

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