Integrity law challenged before the Constitutional Court
President Nicuşor Dan challenges public officials’ integrity law before the Constitutional Court.
Elena Enache, 11.08.2026, 14:00
President Nicuşor Dan has challenged before the Constitutional Court (CCR) the recently adopted law on the integrity of public officials, passed by Parliament in Bucharest. The head of state argues that several provisions are unconstitutional, including one that would entail the retroactive application of penalties, as well as another extending the obligation to declare assets to life partners, rather than limiting it to spouses.
In his submission to the Constitutional Court, the president notes that the new provision incorporated into the law drafted by the National Agency for Integrity (ANI), as passed by Parliament, extends the obligation to complete and submit declarations of assets and interests from the holder of public office to their husband, wife or life partner in the case of the President of Romania, members of Parliament, the Prime Minister, ministers and other senior public officials.
Until now, officials’ declarations of assets have generally covered only their own assets and those of their minor children, without imposing an independent obligation on their life partner. “The direct extension of administrative liability to individuals solely on account of their emotional relationship with a public official represents an aggravated form of the constitutional defect already identified by the Court in 2025, as it extends a form of liability specific to public officials to individuals who hold no public office and exercise no public authority prerogatives,” the head of state argues. He further maintains that this “form of interference with private life exceeds even the limits laid down by the European Court in the field of conflicts of interest”.
Another provision being challenged concerns a three-year ban on holding public office. According to the submission, the new regulation transforms a ban that previously produced effects prospectively into the automatic termination of a public office or mandate that is already being exercised.
The law provides for the automatic termination, within 30 days, of the mandate of local elected officials who were definitively found to be incompatible with their office or to have been in a conflict of interest before the new law entered into force. In other words, the provision could have retroactive effect.
President Dan argues, however, that this provision violates the principle of non-retroactivity of the law, as enshrined in the Constitution. He maintains that Romania needs “a solution that is constitutionally sound, not a vulnerable text built around short-term political calculations and interests, which risks being struck down at a later stage and creating a legislative vacuum in the area of integrity”.
Several public officials could find themselves in this situation and risk losing their positions, including the Mayor of Timişoara and USR leader, Dominic Fritz.
The president’s challenge comes after the law was passed by Parliament amid controversy. USR senators, backed by their Liberal counterparts, also referred the law to the Constitutional Court on constitutional grounds immediately after its adoption.
Both challenges are due to be considered by the Constitutional Court at its Wednesday session, despite the judges being on recess.
The ANI law is a milestone under Romania’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR), and if it is not adopted by 31 August, Romania stands to lose €770 million.
(EE)
