Protests against new Criminal Code changes

Bucharest Sunday saw a large protest against recent amendments brought by Romanian MPs to the Criminal Code.

Florentin Căpitănescu, 16.12.2013, 13:46

After the presidency and the Superior Council of Magistracy as well as several foreign embassies in Romania reacted harshly to the newest amendments to the Criminal Code, some one thousand people protested in Bucharest on Sunday.

The most important of these amendments changes the status of the president, MPs and liberal professions, that will no longer be considered civil servants and consequently will avoid being prosecuted for corruption offences such as abuse of office, bribe taking and influence peddling, or for conflict of interests. Although the modifications sparked huge public uproar, MPs continue to stand by their decision. Among the most vocal of them, the Social Democrat Eugen Nicolicea said the following:

Eugen Nicolicea: “MPs have been taken out of the category of civil servants. The main prerequisite for that under the Criminal Code is to be employed by a public institution. This obviously goes against reality, since MPs are not employed by the Chamber of Deputies or the Senate, although they are public institutions. The advisors, technical staff and the rest of the personnel may be considered public servants, but not the MPs, nor the president”.

Under the public pressure, MPs were quick to come up with a wave of explanations that nevertheless remained unconvincing. As regards the National Integrity Agency or the National Anti-corruption Directorate, the amendments brought to the Criminal Code are due to cut a big chunk off their activity. Dozens of cases investigating MPs currently pending at the two institutions are relevant for their commitment to fight corruption among high-ranking officials.

Both president Traian Basescu and political pundits believe that the corrupt officials’ slipping off the radar of these two institutions would have a negative impact on the European Commission’s report on the Romanian judiciary. Previous reports under the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism had praised the activity of the National Integrity Agency and the National Anti-corruption Directorate.