Parliament goes on recess
While Romanias Parliament goes on summer recess, this weekend has seen the first protests against the Tudose Cabinet.
Corina Cristea, 03.07.2017, 12:39
Parliament has gone on recess and will resume its plenary sessions on September 1. Meanwhile, the Government can issue simple decrees in fields not pertaining to organic laws in such fields as public finance, economy, regional development, public administration, European funds and healthcare. The Government can issue decrees in the field of defense to ratify agreements on defense cooperation, to amend legislation related to the participation of troops in external missions and operations, on the deployment, stationing and activity of foreign military forces on Romania’s territory and for amending Government ordinances on public spending and strengthening financial discipline.
Although the opposition has criticized the latter document, claiming that there was no acting Government at the time and no governing program, the ruling coalition says the procedure is Constitutional and therefore normal. Meanwhile, the left-of-centre Government made up of the Social-Democratic Party and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats has started its activity, announcing its main objectives.
The first anti-government protests were staged this weekend, when approximately a thousand people on Sunday evening took part in an anti-corruption rally. The protest was organized five months after the largest-scale protests in post-communist Romania. When high-level corruption continues to be a problem, the society will respond, the organizers of the protest have said, arguing that the event was a response to last week’s developments as well as to the Government’s attempt to cap legal accountability for abuse of office.
On January 31, 2017 Sorin Grindeanu’s Cabinet passed an emergency decree bringing several amendments to criminal legislation, as well as setting a cap to 44,000 euros for prejudice incurred from crimes defined as abuse of office. The move prompted mass street protests all over the country, and in response the Government repealed the decree. The Constitutional Court decided that the Anti-Corruption Directorate’s investigation into the Government’s procedures to pass the decree exceeded its remit. Based on the Court’s decision, the Prosecutor General’s office closed the investigation. (Translated by V. Palcu)
