Romania’s Constitutional Court mediates between the government and the President

Romanias Constitutional Court (CCR) on Wednesday solved the legal conflict of constitutional nature between the countrys Prime Minister and the President

Roxana Vasile, 19.09.2019, 13:52

It is the president’s prerogative
to sack ministers and appoint the interim substitutes, the Prime Minister nominates.
Furthermore, the President must issue the decrees, which legalize the move. The President, however, doesn’t have to appoint the ministers, but must explain why he turns down the Prime Minister’s proposals.

This is briefly the answer given by
Romania’s Constitutional Court (CCR) to a notification by Prime Minister
Viorica Dancila, who called on CCR to settle a legal conflict of Constitutional
nature, between the Executive and the country’s right-wing president Klaus
Iohannis.

According to Dancila, there are 8 difficult
ministerial seats as part of a double reshuffle decided by the ruling PSD Party
last month after the withdrawal of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats,
their partner in the ruling coalition. The Prime Minister’s reaction after CCR
made public its ruling was to blame the president, who, according to her, committed
an abuse, violating the Constitution with cynicism and carelessness.

Dancila has also accused the
president of having triggered a government crisis. In turn the president has pledged
to take action after the CCR’s motivation has been published in the Official
Gazette. Iohannis has also added that the CCR ruling doesn’t change the
political situation the government in Bucharest is currently facing.

Klaus Iohannis: I now see
with satisfaction that the CCR has inevitably and rightfully reached the same
conclusion I have been mentioning for three weeks now – the Dancila government
has lost its legitimacy and must appear before Parliament for a validation
vote.

‘President Iohannis is electorally
motivated to reinterpret in his own manner a mandatory CCR ruling’ – Prime
Minister Viorica Dancila went on to say adding that she would unflinchingly ask
for a confidence vote from Parliament for a new cabinet. The Prime Minister’s statement
has also been strengthened by the PSD secretary general, Mihai Fifor

Mihai Fifor: The idea that
the Dancila cabinet should avoid Parliament has always been out of the
question. Mrs. Prime Minister has also said that and this is exactly what we are
going to do. Meanwhile, we are waiting to see the opposition’s preparations for
the censure motion, with which they have been threatening us for a couple of
months now.

The unprecedented strife between
the government and the president, also known in Romania as the conflict between
the two palaces, as well as the fight between the government and the opposition
has intensified since the European Parliament election in May and stand chances
to further escalate with the upcoming presidential election in November as both
the incumbent president and the Prime Minister are running in the presidential
race.

(translated by bill)