The justice laws, under debate
The draft justice laws continue to be at the centre of heated public debates in Bucharest
Bogdan Matei, 02.11.2017, 13:09
Described by specialists and pundits as one of the most widely spread and toxic forms of corruption, abuse of office continues to fuel heated debates in the Romanian Parliament. On Wednesday, MPs on the relevant parliamentary committee which should harmonise any piece of legislation in the field of justice with the rulings issued by the Constitutional Court no longer talked about redefining “abuse of office” as had been previously announced by the head of the committee, former Social-Democrat Minister Florin Iordache.
He had earlier announced that establishing a threshold of some 19,000 lei, that is less than €5,000, for the prejudice produced as a consequence of “abuse of office” would not affect anyone. The National Liberal Party and the Save Romania Union, in opposition, have criticised this delay and accused the power of trying to avoid an honest debate on the idea of introducing a financial threshold. Liberal MP Ioan Cupşa has reiterated that his party does not intend to establish a threshold, although this is one of the requirements made by the Court. “People are very emotional about this issue”- the head of the legal committee of the Senate, Robert Cazanciuc, has admitted.
Himself a former minister, a couple of years ago, in the Social Democratic cabinet led by Victor Ponta, Cazanciuc says Romania needs a piece of intelligible legislation in the field, to the understanding of each citizen. He has also said that various versions referring to the abuse of office have been submitted to the relevant committee and underlined that, if the Social-Democrats haven’t come up with another proposal yet, it means that they haven’t embraced a clear standpoint yet.
The power-opponents accuse the majority made up of the Social Democratic Party-the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats in Romania that by introducing as higher a threshold as possible for the prejudice that has been created, they try to protect their party members accused of abuse of office, starting with the strongman of the coalition, the Social-Democrat Liviu Dragnea. The suspicions of the opposition, civil society and the press are fuelled by a more extensive package of laws meant to reform the judiciary and promoted by the incumbent line minister, Tudorel Toader.
With the declared aim of bringing the legislation in line both with the rulings issued by the Constitutional Court and the latest evolutions in society, the draft law stipulates that the country’s president will no longer be involved in the procedure of appointing head prosecutors and it places the Judicial Inspection Corps from under the umbrella of the Higher Council of the Magistracy to the subordination of the line ministry. “If this mixture of measures is adopted by the government and endorsed by Parliament, Romania’s efforts in the past ten years or more, will be erased, and the justice system will return to a period when it was subordinated to politics”- President Klaus Iohannis warned last year. In turn, civil society announces that on Sunday, it will resume the already famous anti-government protests, under the slogan “We are not a nation of thieves”. (Translated by D. Vijeu)
