February 22, 2019 UPDATE

President Iohannis challenges the 2019 state budget bill; magistrates protest changes in the justice laws

Newsroom, 22.02.2019, 19:48

BUDGET The Constitutional Court of Romania has announced that on March 6th it will discuss the notification filed by President Klaus Iohannis against the 2019 state budget law. On Friday, the head of state notified the Constitutional Court over the state budget bill submitted for his promulgation. He described the bill as unrealistic and over-optimistic, and dismissed it as a national disgrace. There are unconstitutional elements in this law, the President said, such as failure to comply with commitments taken within the EU and violation of fundamental rights. Iohannis lashed out at the Social Democratic Party, the senior partner in the ruling coalition in Romania, which he said is unable to govern the country and only rules to the benefit of its leader, Liviu Dragnea. Klaus Iohannis also said political parties are getting too much money, public education is under-funded, and Romania has been in turmoil, particularly since an ordinance was passed in late 2018 modifying the justice laws. According to the President, the entire ruling term of the Social Democrats has been an assault on the rule of law in Romania. In response, the Senate Speaker, Calin Popescu Tariceanu (ALDE, also in the ruling coalition) said the Presidents sending the budget bill to the Constitutional Court is unwarranted and ill-timed. He added the President is “harassing the Cabinet and trying to prevent its work.

JUDICIARY In several cities in Romania, magistrates protested on Friday against the changes to the justice laws introduced by a government emergency decree, and called for independence of the judiciary. They also announced they would suspend their work for several days, and said only urgent cases would be tried. The changes operated by the left-of-centre Government concern, among other things, the appointment of senior prosecutors and the powers of the special division investigating offences committed by magistrates. The emergency decree has been criticised both in Brussels, by the European Commission, and in Romania, by magistrate associations, by the prosecutor division of the Higher Council of Magistrates, and by the right-wing Opposition.

TRADE The World Trade Organisation (WTO) is in a difficult situation at the moment, and swift action is needed for the entity not to fall apart, the EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström said on Friday in Bucharest. In turn, the Romanian Minister for the Business Environment, Ştefan-Radu Oprea, said that promoting free trade under the WTO aegis remains a priority for the EU, and member states have voiced their willingness to start negotiations on e-commerce. He added that, with respect to trade relations between the EU and the USA, stakeholders are trying to maintain a positive bilateral agenda and to adopt as quickly as possible the negotiating directives on conformity assessment and the liberalisation of trade in industrial products. EU trade ministers convened on Friday in Bucharest to discuss the modernisation of the WTO and the trade relations between the European bloc and the US.

CONGRESS Cluj Napoca (in north-western Romania) is hosting the congress of the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania, the main political party representing the 1.5-million strong Hungarian community in Romania. Attending the event are over 900 delegates, who will elect the new party president. The incumbent leader, Hunor Kelemen, is the only candidate, and is running for a 3rd term in office. Before the congress, Hunor Kelemen told a press conference that in his opinion the main task ahead is for the party to define a general framework for the political decisions to be made in the future. The delegates will also discuss the new economic platform of the organisation and the list of candidates for the European Parliament elections. Another topic on the agenda is the collaboration between the Union, which supports the ruling coalition in Romania, and the other Romanian parties. Represented in Parliament without interruptions since 1990, the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians has been a member of many coalition governments in Romania.

(translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)