President Klaus
\nIohannis has challenged the law on the status of judges and prosecutors at the
\nConstitutional Court, but has announced that he had to promulgate the law on
\njudicial organization. The two bills, alongside the one regarding the
\norganization and functioning of the Supreme Council of Magistracy, make up the
\nlegislative package to which the left wing majority represented by the Social
\nDemocratic Party and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats brought dramatic
\nchanges, which have been criticized not only by the president of the country,
\nthe opposition and magistrates’ associations, but also by the Venice
\nCommission.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Here is President Klaus Iohannis:<\/p>\n
At
\nthe moment, as regards the law on judicial organization, I have unfortunately
\nexhausted all constitutional ways to challenge it, and therefore I must
\npromulgate it. But this does not mean that the road is closed for good.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The country’s
\npresident has criticized the lack of transparency with which the ruling
\ncoalition amended the laws and has stated that the outcome is worrying. Failing
\nits own supporters after the dismissal of the head of the Anticorruption
\nDirectorate Laura Codruta Kovesi, when he let his spokesperson make the
\nannouncement, Klaus Iohannis has tried to come back into the battle. Parliamentarians’
\nloyalty should lie with the Romanian people, the president has stressed:<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
We
\nmust not turn into a negative example in Europe by drafting laws aimed at
\nprotecting certain political leaders against prosecution. No politician can or should
\ntrade the principles that shaped democratic Romania after the 1989 Revolution
\nfor their own benefit. No political decision maker has been mandated by the
\nRomanian people to do that. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The president’s
\nwarning was clearly targeted at the iron fist in the ruling coalition, the
\npresident of the Social Democratic Party and Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies
\nLiviu Dragnea, who’s been accused of maiming the justice system only to get
\naway unscathed from the cases of corruption he is involved in. In response to
\nthat, representatives of the governing coalition have recalled that the justice
\nlaws were amended in keeping with the rulings of the Constitutional Court and
\nsay that discussing them again in parliament would make no sense. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The
\nopposition, however, supports the request made by the head of state, namely for
\nthe Government to take into consideration the recommendations made by the
\nVenice Commission. In a preliminary report, the advisory body of the Council of
\nEurope warns that the changes brought to the justice laws in Romania might
\nundermine the independence of the judiciary and create negative effects with
\nregard to the fight against corruption. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Romania’s President Klaus Iohannis has promulgated one of the controversial justice laws, after exhausting all challenge procedures<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":110,"featured_media":78355,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37738],"tags":[30041,32472,29799,29568,39384,31841],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-78354","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-today-in-the-news","tag-constitutional-court","tag-justice-laws","tag-laura-codruta-kovesi","tag-romanian-president-klaus-iohannis","tag-social-democratic-leader-liviu-dragnea","tag-venice-commission"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n