The Constitutional Court of Romania (CCR) established on Wednesday that there is no legal conflict of a constitutional nature between state powers following the adoption of the government emergency ordinance for the modification of the Criminal Codes.

CCR President Valer Dorneanu announced at the end of the Wednesday meeting that it was found that there is no conflict neither between the judicial authority and the Government, nor between Parliament and the Government.

“In respect to the nature of the conflict between Parliament and Government it has been said that in this case the Government assumed a legislating power not stated in the Constitution and exaggerated in using the emergency ordinance. It is true that, according to the separation of powers principle, Parliament is the one having the legislating sovereignty and the competence to issue primary organic laws. The Government usually hasn’t such a competence. Exceptionally, however, even under the Constitution (…), the Government can be delegated by the legislature to issue simple or emergency ordinances. (…) In this respect, there is not conflict, because the Government has acted legally within its competence area of issuing ordinances,” the CCR head said.

Previously, he had pointed out that the repeal of GEO No 13/2017 could not stop the ongoing constitutional process.

“Several times, the Constitutional Court has pronounced even in respect to some conflicts notified by the former Ponta Government. Dropping or repealing a normative act cannot stop us from its constitutional process. Therefore, the GEO 13 abrogation has no relevance. This abrogation can have consequences tomorrow, when we judge the ordinance constitutionality,” Dorneanu maintained.

The CCR President underscored that not any conflict between authorities meets the condition of a legal conflict of a constitutional nature, but only when a side or the sides assume powers, duties, competencies in the activity area of the other authority or when an authority declines its competence, doesn’t exercise its role, according to its duties, or refuses to fulfill its role.

The Constitutional Court of Romania has discussed the requests of President Klaus Iohannis and Superior Council of Magistracy (CSM) head Mariana Ghena, on finding a conflict between state powers following the adoption of the government emergency ordinance for the modification of the Criminal Codes. </s> Romania’s five-month-old Social Democrat (PSD) government defeated a parliamentary motion of no-confidence on Wednesday while thousands rallied outside to demand its resignation.

The centrist opposition called the vote, accusing the cabinet of prime minister Viorica Dancila and the ruling party of trying to weaken anti-corruption laws and institutions.

It followed a preliminary jail sentence handed down on PSD chief Liviu Dragnea last week for graft offences. Dragnea holds a tight grip on the party and is seen as the de-facto government head and architect of its policy.

The move to topple the government was doomed to fail. Only 166 deputies from the fragmented opposition supported the motion, well short of the 233 votes – 50 per cent of deputies plus one – required under the constitution for no-confidence motions to succeed.

The PSD and its small ally Alde – which together hold 249 of the 465 seats in parliament – did not vote, confident that the opposition would fail to reach the threshold.

About 4,000 people chanted outside parliament during the debate, blowing whistles and vuvuzela horns.

Raluca Turcan, deputy president of the centrist National Liberal Party, accused the PSD of undermining a European Union-backed drive to tackle corruption. “Today’s motion has been about the dismissal of Dragnea’s regime and his declaration of war against the European Union, ” she told parliament.

In a speech frequently interrupted by opposition legislators shouting “Resignation! Resignation!, Ms Dancila, the prime minister, denounced the attempt to topple her government as “lacking rational arguments, logic and any realistic reasoning”.

PSD lawmakers have pushed a judicial overhaul through parliament that effectively puts magistrates under political control. It also changes the penal handbook that could affect thousands of criminal cases, risking a deeper rift between eastern and western EU members.

Both legal changes are on hold pending challenges filed to the constitutional court, but PSD deputies had said they expected to approve them by mid-July.

Arguments about how to fight corruption in one of Europe’s most graft-prone states have dominated Romanian politics since its 2007 EU entry and magistrates have often complained of political pressures.

Dragnea, who is also speaker of the lower house of parliament, was found guilty by the supreme court last week of keeping two women on the payroll of a state agency in 2006-2013 even though they were employed by his party.

Romania’s most powerful politician, he has repeatedly denied all the charges and is expected to appeal the verdict, which relates to when he was a county council chief. – Reuters
Also that day, the Constitutional Court rejected two pleas made by President Iohannis and the Supreme Council of the Magistracy (CSM) that claimed an institutional conflict between the Parliament, respectively the CSM on one hand, and the Government on the other, in a move that surprised the critics of the PSD-led cabinet and the protesters. The next day it rejected the final plea made by the Ombudsman on reasons of inadmissibility.