President calls referendum on justice

Referendum on justice to be held in Romania on 26th May, on same day as elections for European Parliament.

Ştefan Stoica, 29.03.2019, 12:36

Romania’s president Klaus Iohannis
on Thursday announced plans to call a referendum on the 26th of May,
on the same day as the European elections. He did not say what question would
be on the ballot, but confirmed that it would deal with the judiciary, which he
said has been under attack from the Social Democratic Party ever since the
latter came to power in January 2017. The president blamed the Social
Democrats, who are the main party in the ruling coalition, of preparing a new
emergency order to amend the criminal codes, after a previous one about the
justice laws.

The president used the opportunity
given by his announcement of the referendum to criticise the government:

Amateurism and incompetence is what
characterises the governance of the Social Democratic Party. When these two
characteristics intertwine with the intention to pass laws in the interest of
criminals, be they even party leaders, Romania is faced with a disaster. The
Social Democrats must put an end to these constant attacks against the
judiciary. The Social Democrats must understand that the judiciary is not at
their disposal. These are extremely simple principles in a rule of law and a
democracy, these are values for which people took to the streets in December
1989 and in the last two years. It is clear that the Social Democratic Party is
trying to ignore these truths. But let me give them the news: they can no
longer do it. The judiciary is a matter of national interest and the citizens
have the sovereign right to decide if they want to let corruption become state
policy.

Soon after the president’s
announcement, the leader of the Social Democratic Party Liviu Dragnea gave a
statement saying he is close to filing a complaint for high treason against
Klaus Iohannis. He didn’t give details, but accused the president of treating
judicial institutions as if they were subordinated to him and of putting
pressure on judges, a reference to the consultations Iohannis had with
magistrates before calling a referendum. Liviu Dragnea also said the Social
Democrats have no worries about the referendum and that is why they will not
treat it in any special way. Liviu Dragnea:

The Social Democratic Party will
not have a strategy for this referendum called by the president of Romania. The
Social Democratic Party has two very clear objectives: to govern this country
as well as it has done so far, to continue the economic growth and to adopt
good measures for the Romanians, and secondly, to run a well-organised campaign
for the European Parliament elections so that our message reaches every
Romanian, namely what the party’s MEPs will do in the European Parliament.

The opposition and civic
organisations back the idea of a referendum on justice. Amidst speculations
that the president wants to use the referendum to boost voter turnout in the
European elections and thus the chances of the opposition parties, some NGOs
have warned that the referendum should not be treated as a way of busing
people to voting stations.