On 26 September 2012 Macovei won the Parliament Magazine's Justice and civil liberties prize. As a member of parliament's justice and civil liberties committee she took the opportunity to expand her battle for anti-corruption, for transparency and for civil liberties at EU level. She also went beyond EU borders trying to ensure the rule of law, justice and civil liberties are respected in other countries and not some distant hope for the future. Since the beginning of 2012, Macovei made six speeches in plenary about human rights violations in countries such as Bahrain and Syria.