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Tag: Romanian Parliament

  • Controversial decisions of Romanian MPs

    Controversial decisions of Romanian MPs

    The Bucharest Parliament ended its plenary session with the endorsement of a highly questionable decision. Romanians have got used to seeing the politicians to whom they once gave their votes abusing their public positions and granting themselves privileges that caused public outrage. Parliament members have gone so far as to pass laws that would protect them from answering to justice in case of criminal investigations. Such an outrageous decision was taken on Wednesday.



    Given the nearing parliamentary elections this autumn, Romanian MPs have taken some precautionary measures in case they would no longer win a seat in the future legislative body, in which case they would also lose their immunity. So they endorsed, with 306 votes in favor and one abstention a bill according to which MPs who had hired their relatives at their parliamentary cabinets before August 21, 2013, can no longer be accused of conflict of interests.



    “I regret this vote that decriminalizes conflict of interests for MPs”, Justice Minister Raluca Pruna wrote on her Facebook page. “I have been recently dared to say what I understand through ‘restoration’. Exactly that. Better said, to paraphrase, I understand parliamentary tyranny,” Minister Pruna also said. According to the Justice Minister, the bill recently endorsed by MPs was not discussed in any way before its adoption by Parliament, and the Government’s representative was not invited to speak.



    Law experts say that by decriminalizing conflict of interests, the MPs have created themselves a legal way of getting off unpunished. Moreover, they can freely hire their relatives in the future too. The National Integrity Agency has made some clarifications in this respect. On the one hand, it has warned that Wednesday’s decision violates some of the Criminal Code regulations, which has been punishing conflict of interests ever since 2003.



    On the other hand, the vote of the MPs does not have any influence on the cases of conflict of interests that are currently under investigation, with Courts due to give a ruling in 29 such cases. Moreover, between 2011 and 2015 the National Integrity Agency identified 56 cases of conflict of interests among the MPs, 26 of which were identified as crimes. In most cases, the Court ruled in favor of the National Integrity Agency. In 2015 alone 10 MPs received a suspended prison sentence or a fine, for conflict of interests.



    Another highly controversial law which is against all principles of a state of law is the one according to which mayors and local county councilors indicted for corruption deeds, and who received suspended prison sentences, can further be maintained in their public position, says President Klaus Iohannis. For this reason he challenged the law at the Constitutional Court, on grounds of hindering the fight against corruption.


    (Translated by Elena Enache)



  • Special Parliament Session over Fiscal Code

    Special Parliament Session over Fiscal Code

    The Parliament
    of Romania is to convene in a special session between August the 24th
    and 26th, to re-analyse the Fiscal Code bill, as requested by
    President Klaus Iohannis. On July the 17th, the head of state
    dismissed the bill and sent it back to Parliament for further analysis, on
    grounds that its enforcement may give rise to severe economic imbalances.

    Liviu
    Dragnea, the interim president of the Social Democratic Party, the main party
    in the ruling coalition, said that, although so far there are no reasons to
    make alterations to the bill, he is still concerned with the statements made
    recently by the governor of the National Bank of Romania, Mugur Isarescu. This
    is why, Dragnea explained, until the special Parliament session the Finance
    Ministry will analyse once again the impact that the tax cuts will have on the
    state budget. According to Dragnea, this analysis should convince both the
    Presidency and the central bank that the fiscal relaxation measures are
    sustainable.


    Liviu Dragnea: The Finance Ministry will carry out a new analysis and will also make a
    forecast for the coming two or three years, which will perhaps prove a lot
    clearer the sustainability and suitability of the measures laid down in the
    draft Fiscal Code, which is actually very well received both by the general
    public and by the business community.


    The Liberal
    Opposition however wants a technical evaluation of the draft Code, before the
    new vote in Parliament. The co-president of the Liberal Party Alina Gorghiu
    says the Liberals will endorse the Code in a form that would support the fiscal
    relaxation measures. Alina Gorghiu:


    The Liberal Party has never considered voting against this Fiscal Code. The
    review that we propose includes an analysis of the technical elements. And if,
    by the end of August, we reach the desired conclusions and the figures are in
    favour of the fiscal relaxation measures, then we will obviously endorse the
    text, irrespective of the amendments that may be made.


    One of the most
    controversial measures is the slashing of the VAT from 24 to 19% as of next
    year. Mugur Isarescu has warned that, because of the impact they would have on
    the Gross Domestic Product, the main fiscal relaxation measures, such as the
    reduction of the VAT and the social security contributions planned for next
    year or the scrapping of other taxes that bring substantial revenues to the
    state budget, are simply inapplicable, in economic and financial terms.
    According to Isarescu, if the draft Code takes effect in its current form, this
    would entail a 2.3% drop in the GDP. The head of the central bank also warned
    that these tax cuts should be applied gradually, so as not to jeopardise
    Romania’s economic and financial progress.

  • June 3, 2015 UPDATE

    June 3, 2015 UPDATE

    The members of the lower chamber of the Romanian Parliament Wednesday dismissed the simple motion introduced by the Liberal Party, in the opposition, who believe that the National Company for the Transportation of Electrical Energy is under the undue influence of the governing Social Democratic Party. The Liberals call on the Minister of the Economy, Mihai Tudose, to take radical measures for redressing this situation. In the language of the simple motion, they wish to put under scrutiny irregularities at the company, indicating lack of transparency and discretionary personnel policies. In return, the Minister of the Economy said that the motion lacked substance and used false figures. He specified that Romanias foreign partners believe Transelectrica is a company with good performance.



    A bill on parliamentary elections, which stipulates a return to the list-voting system with a 5% entry threshold, was passed by the Romanian Senate on Wednesday with 105 votes in favour and two against. As such, a deputy will represent 73,000 citizens and a Senator 168,000. Under the new bill, in 2016, the Parliament of Romania will have 308 deputies and 134 senators, plus 18 representatives of national minorities and six representatives of the Romanian diaspora. The final decision on the draft law will be taken by the Chamber of Deputies. In the latest parliamentary election, in 2012, 412 deputies and 176 senators were elected.



    The Russian diplomacy Wednesday criticised what it called the start of a witch hunt, after the President of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, decided to limit the access of the chief of Russias mission to the EU, France Presse reports. Brussels measure comes in response to the Kremlin banning the entry into Russia of 89 European officials, including 5 Romanians, who had criticised Moscows policy. The foreign ministries of several EU member countries described the ban as completely arbitrary and unjustified. The head of the Russian diplomacy, Sergey Lavrov, rejected the term “absurd used by the EU, and said the Russian black list is an answer to the Wests sanctions against Moscow.



    Romanias womens tennis team will play against the defending title holders, the Czech Republic, in the first round of the Fed Cup world group of 2016. Meanwhile, in the French Open, the Romanian Horia Tecău together with Slovenias Katarina Srebotnik lost on Wednesday the mixed doubles semi-final against the Americans Mike Bryan / Bethanie Mattek-Sands. In the mens doubles semi-final on Thursday, Tecău and the Dutch Jean-Julien Rojer will be playing against Ivan Dodig (Croatia) / Marcelo Melo (Brazil).

  • Changes in Parliament’s Rules of Procedure

    Changes in Parliament’s Rules of Procedure

    The members of Romania’s Parliament have finally made a first, tentative step towards improving their public image. They changed the institution’s Rules of Procedure, to the effect that the prosecution, detention or pre-trial arrest of a Deputy or Senator may be approved on the vote of the majority of MPs attending the meeting in which the prosecutors’ request is discussed. This change brings Parliament’s Rules of Procedure in line with the Constitution, as the Constitutional Court had instructed. Such a measure was long due, says Deputy Mircea Toader, from the Liberal Opposition:



    “We are merely adapting our rules to what should have been done a long time ago, so as not to make the Parliament of Romania a shield for some who believe themselves to be above the law. For some of them, the prosecutors’ requests were approved on a simple majority vote, while for others on the majority of the total number of Senators.”



    In the future, such procedural incongruities will no longer be possible. Parliamentary practice has recently faced such a situation, in the case of Senator Dan Sova, for whom the Anti-Corruption Directorate had requested approval of pre-trial custody arrest, for charges of accessory to abuse of office. Most of the Senators attending the meeting voted in favour of the arrest, but the Senate leaders decided to dismiss the request because it was not approved by the majority of the total number of Senators. In the Chamber of Deputies, similar requests had been approved on simple majority voting, so this was a case of discrimination between the two Chambers. Criticised for the decision, the Senate Speaker Calin Popescu-Tariceanu said, in his defence, that he complied with the Rules of Procedure. He is now voicing satisfaction with the recent change that eliminates all ambiguities and proves that MPs are not above the law. Calin Popescu-Tariceanu:



    “Parliament is not trying, in any form, under the cover of provisions that come against the Constitution, to give more protection to its members than the one given to ordinary citizens. We are all equal before the law and we choose to make these changes in order to clarify the problem and leave no more room for speculations.”



    The abuse of immunity that some MPs resort to in dismissing the requests of anti-corruption prosecutors without good grounds has undermined the credibility and popularity of Parliament, making it the favourite target of criticism coming from the European experts that assess the judicial reform and the anti-corruption efforts in Romania. President Klaus Iohannis, a resolute critic of the attempts to give super-immunity to MPs, has recently voiced his disappointment with having not yet managed to convince them to take the path of integrity and respect for justice.

  • The revision of the Constitution and the election process in the spotlight

    The revision of the Constitution and the election process in the spotlight

    It’s been more than a year since the Constitutional Court rejected a bill on the revision of the Constitution passed by Parliament and now fresh talks are being held on this issue in Bucharest. The first bill proposed by a parliamentary committee was challenged at the time by the former Liberal Democratic Party and the Constitutional Court judges ruled that some of the provisions of the bill went beyond revision.



    One such example is the procedure for appointing the prime minister and the provision according to which MPs would lose their parliamentary seats if they resign from the parties on whose lists they were elected. The Constitutional Court also rejected the condition that people running for the Senate, the Chamber of Deputies and president of Romania must have had their residence in Romania for at least 6 months prior to elections. In the opinion of the Constitutional Court, this would run counter to the fundamental right of electing and being elected.



    Another provision which was rejected read that national ethnic minorities may use freely, both in the private and public space, their own symbols representing their ethnic, cultural, linguistic and religious identity. The Constitutional Court also rejected the definition of the concept of guaranteed university autonomy on grounds that it may result in the absolute independence of universities both in terms of the management of their assets and the appointment of management structures and positions.



    Senators and deputies have also been presented with a number of bills concerning local elections, the establishment of political parties and the funding of parties and election campaigns. As soon as MPs make their amendments, the bills will go back to the Election Code Committee accompanied by these amendments and will later be submitted for approval by each parliamentary chamber. The most important amendments to the legislation in force include the elimination of multiple voting by introducing an information system to check voter turnout, the election of county council presidents based on the votes of half plus one of the number of councillors in attendance, the establishment of political parties consisting of at least three members and the reimbursement of election campaign costs by the state for entities and individuals who obtain at least 3% of the votes.



    On Tuesday, the election code committee will also discuss the election process for the Romanians living abroad so as to make sure that all these people can exercise their voting rights. The Liberal Party is in favour of postal voting, while the Social Democratic Party supports electronic voting.

  • Parliament to Resume its Activity

    Parliament to Resume its Activity

    The chambers of the Romanian Parliament met for their first regular session this autumn, with the acute understanding that their legislative season will be put on hold, pending the campaign for the presidential elections scheduled for November. For the Senate, the priority is to issue legislation to pardon people who received undue amounts of money from the state through the fault of civil servants.



    Social Democrat Prime Minister Victor Ponta expressed a wish to steer the law through the lower chamber as quickly as possible. The lower chamber’s main priority is the 5% slash to be applied to social security contributions, which will become mandatory for employers as of October 1. The measure has already passed the Senate in an emergency session on August 25. The other priority is the so-called Oil Law.



    The members of the lower chamber are also supposed to debate the bill on changes to the forestry code, as well as a bill to apply changes to the pornography law, introduced by 37 MPs. In this case, the Chamber of Deputies is the decision-making forum. Parliament is also expected to issue a decision on the controversial emergency Government ordinance on political party switching in the case of local elected officials. According to the said executive ordinance, local elected officials have 45 days to shift political party allegiance without forfeiting their position.



    The Government ordinance has angered the opposition, which announced it would seek a no-confidence vote in Parliament. Liberal Democrat chairman Vasile Blaga said that the Christian Liberal Alliance made up of the Liberal Democratic and National Liberal parties would introduce two new simple motions in addition to the one regarding the justice system, which was overdue in the previous session. One of them regards taxation, as the opposition claims that Romania has the worst revenue collection level and that tax evasion has reached its worst levels since 1990.



    This session of Parliament might also debate the bill introduced by the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania on autonomy, which also stands for public debate. At the same time, Parliament is also supposed to debate and pass the state budget and social insurance budget for 2015, as soon as the Government provides Parliament with the proper documentation.