President Klaus
Iohannis has challenged the law on the status of judges and prosecutors at the
Constitutional Court, but has announced that he had to promulgate the law on
judicial organization. The two bills, alongside the one regarding the
organization and functioning of the Supreme Council of Magistracy, make up the
legislative package to which the left wing majority represented by the Social
Democratic Party and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats brought dramatic
changes, which have been criticized not only by the president of the country,
the opposition and magistrates’ associations, but also by the Venice
Commission.
Here is President Klaus Iohannis:
At
the moment, as regards the law on judicial organization, I have unfortunately
exhausted all constitutional ways to challenge it, and therefore I must
promulgate it. But this does not mean that the road is closed for good.
The country’s
president has criticized the lack of transparency with which the ruling
coalition amended the laws and has stated that the outcome is worrying. Failing
its own supporters after the dismissal of the head of the Anticorruption
Directorate Laura Codruta Kovesi, when he let his spokesperson make the
announcement, Klaus Iohannis has tried to come back into the battle. Parliamentarians’
loyalty should lie with the Romanian people, the president has stressed:
We
must not turn into a negative example in Europe by drafting laws aimed at
protecting certain political leaders against prosecution. No politician can or should
trade the principles that shaped democratic Romania after the 1989 Revolution
for their own benefit. No political decision maker has been mandated by the
Romanian people to do that.
The president’s
warning was clearly targeted at the iron fist in the ruling coalition, the
president of the Social Democratic Party and Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies
Liviu Dragnea, who’s been accused of maiming the justice system only to get
away unscathed from the cases of corruption he is involved in. In response to
that, representatives of the governing coalition have recalled that the justice
laws were amended in keeping with the rulings of the Constitutional Court and
say that discussing them again in parliament would make no sense.
The
opposition, however, supports the request made by the head of state, namely for
the Government to take into consideration the recommendations made by the
Venice Commission. In a preliminary report, the advisory body of the Council of
Europe warns that the changes brought to the justice laws in Romania might
undermine the independence of the judiciary and create negative effects with
regard to the fight against corruption.