7 April 2017
Romania is considered one of the European Union’s most corrupt states. Twelve of Romania’s ambassadors – Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the US – called on the government not to pass laws that would weaken the rule of law and fight against corruption in the country.
The ruling party PSD responded by saying that embassies should obtain clarifications from the Foreign Affairs Ministry and with other state institutions but not through public messages. It added that the letter of the 12 embassies broke the provisions of the Vienna Convention. Prime minister prime Viorica Dăncilă said that the unpleasant situation arose because of president Klaus Iohannis’s repeated declarations on the topic of justice. Romania Insider reported.
Chairman of the Social Democrat Party (PSD) Liviu Dragnea is desperate to get the emergency laws that would mitigate his corruption convictions and pending corruption investigations. He sent an ultimatum to the Justice Minister, Tudorel Toader to draft the emergency ordinances to amend the criminal codes, or be sacked from his ministerial post. Minister of Justice on Facebook, said Without urgency, an emergency decree cannot be adopted.
The Romanian President Klaus Iohannis has proposed to the parliament a referendum on a ban on the use of amnesty or pardon for corruption convicts and on proposed national justice reform. He said that justice was a matter of national interest, and citizens have the sovereign right to decide whether or not to let corruption become state policy.
Euronews reported.
Liviu Dragnea was sentenced to three and a half years in prison for electoral fraud. In a second trial for abuse of office, he had to miss several appointments for health reasons. He and his assistants have been trying for over two years to erase the corruption conviction of Dragnea and his other convicted assistants and to subordinate the judiciary in order to be able to govern according to their own laws.
