Less than a month after being sworn in, the
\nGovernment in Bucharest already stirs up negative reactions due to some major
\nchanges it wants to bring to the justice system. Civil society, judicial
\ninstitutions, the US Embassy in Bucharest, opposition parties and President
\nKlaus Iohannis have all criticised in more or less diplomatic terms the plans
\nof the Grindeanu government, made up of representatives of the Social
\nDemocratic Party (PSD) and of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats (ALDE),
\nreferring to collective pardoning and the elimination of a number of crimes
\nrelated to corruption. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Unlike the Government, that says this plan is
\nintended as a solution to prison overcrowding, its opponents see the changes as
\na ticket to freedom for many influential people convicted in recent years. On
\nThursday evening, thousands of people took to the streets of the capital
\nBucharest and several other cities asking for zero tolerance for corrupted
\npeople and denouncing what they see as an attack on democracy. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Also, the General Prosecutor’s Office, the National
\nAnti-Corruption Directorate and the Directorate for the Investigation of
\nOrganised Crime and Terrorism have firmly criticised the bills proposed by the
\nGovernment, warning that they will not only benefit some corrupt people now in
\nprison, but also some dangerous criminals and paedophiles. The representatives
\nof the three institutions have argued that these changes would partially or
\ntotally decriminalise the crimes of abuse of office, actionable negligence and
\nconflict of interests. The chief of the Anti-Corruption Directorate Laura
\nCodruta Kovesi explains: <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The Romanian
\njudiciary is being reformed, at high speed, by amending three crimes: abuse of
\noffice, actionable negligence and conflict of interests. These three types of
\ncrimes can only be committed by public officials, that is ministers, state
\nsecretaries, senators, deputies, magistrates, policemen, mayors, county council
\npresidents and directors.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The Superior Council
\nof Magistracy must analyse the draft emergency orders proposed by the
\ngovernment by January 27. Talking about this situation, the US ambassador to
\nBucharest Hans Klemm has said that any measure that weakens the rule of law is
\ninappropriate, while the National Liberal Party and the Save Romania Union, in
\nopposition, say they are considering calling for a no-confidence vote in
\nParliament against Justice Minister Florin Iordache. Also, President Klaus
\nIohannis has recently said that passing such legislation would destroy the rule
\nof law and push the country away from the European and Euro-Atlantic values. It
\nremains to be seen if the Government goes ahead with its plans or takes a step
\nback amid all the pressure. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The controversial changes in the area of justice envisaged by the Government continue to make the headlines in Romania.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":112,"featured_media":62971,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37738],"tags":[38790,34344,116464],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-71750","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-today-in-the-news","tag-criminal-code-changes","tag-pardons","tag-romania-en"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n