The Romanian Parliament on Wednesday
\ndismissed Renate Weber from her position as Ombudsman with 247 MPs voting in
\nfavour and 32 against. The parties in the ruling coalition, namely the Liberal
\nParty, the Save Romania Union and PLUS Alliance and the Democratic Union of
\nEthnic Hungarians, accuse her of overstepping her powers and violating the Constitution
\nand say she did not support the authorities and did not initiate actions with
\nrespect to the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism and did not investigate accusations
\nof illegal actions from the administration or of corruption from public
\nservants. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The chair of the Senate’s
\nlegal committee, the Liberal MP Iulia
\nSc\u00e2ntei, explains why the legal committees also previously rejected the
\nOmbudsman’s activity reports:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The Ombudsman did not act constantly in the relationship
\nwith Parliament and the other authorities, based on the principle of loyal
\ncooperation. Neither did she fulfil, in 2020, her role and duties with respect
\nto the defence, protection and promotion of the rights of children, who were
\nstrongly affected by the restrictions adopted during the pandemic.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Save Romania Union MP Andrei
\nLupu accused Renate Weber of being in the service of those who appointed her:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
I am absolutely convinced
\nthat you are a competent person, but there is one major problem in your
\nactivity more recently. You have done your job in a selfish way, in your own
\ninterest and of those who appointed you to your post.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
From the opposition, the
\nSocial Democrats, who refused to take part in the vote in Parliament, say they
\nwill challenge the result in the Constitutional Court because the Ombudsman’s
\ndismissal is not justified. The Social Democrats are accusing the Liberals of
\nwanting someone in this position who won’t challenge the government’s orders.
\nThe Social Democrat MP Titus
\nCorl\u0103\u0163ean:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The Ombudsman safeguards the fundamental rights and
\nfreedoms of citizens, not of those of the government, of those in power. This clearly
\nshows the unsophisticated manner in which the current right-wing government understands
\ndemocracy and seeks to subordinate a fundamental institution that should be
\nindependent in any western-type democracy.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The leader of the Alliance of the Union of Romanians Claudiu
\nT\u00e2rziu described the dismissal of the Ombudsman as a public execution. At the
\nend of the debates in Parliament, Renate Weber said she has nothing to blame
\nherself for while Ombudsman:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
I believe I have acted with dignity in this office. For
\nme, rights and freedoms are sacred.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The ruling coalition is yet to propose a replacement but
\npromised to do so before Parliament goes into recess. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Less than two years after she was appointed, Romanias Ombudsman is now dismissed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":89295,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37738],"tags":[33180,31671],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-89294","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-today-in-the-news","tag-dismissal","tag-ombudsman"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n