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Romanian Parliament Moves To Impeach President

July 05, 2012
by Eugen Tomiuc

Romania's ruling majority is opening procedures to suspend President Traian Basescu after parliament speakers were sacked and the powers of top judges were curbed.

Lawmakers from the left-leaning Liberal Social Union (USL) have called an extraordinary session for July 5 and July 6 to debate impeaching the center-right president.

If approved by parliament, Basescu's impeachment must be voted on in a referendum within 30 days.

Leftist Prime Minister Victor Ponta's cabinet has already issued a decree barring the Constitutional Court from ruling on parliamentary decisions, thus opening the door for the governing majority to impeach Basescu.

West Wants 'Stable' Romania

The Court has filed an official complaint with the Venice Commission -- the Council of Europe's advisory body on constitutional matters.

Both the European Union and United States voiced deep concern about attacks on democracy in Romania.

U.S. Ambassador to Romania, Mark Gittenstein, in an Independence Day speech in Bucharest with Ponta standing by his side, warned about the importance of strong democratic institutions.

"The strength of these institutions," Gittenstein said, "will decide whether you prosper and whether your children will decide to even live here."

Gittenstein had earlier said Washington wants a stable Romania, where parts of its missile shield are to be installed.

Ponta's ex-communist Social Democrats (PSD) did succeed in suspending Basescu in May 2007, but he was overwhelmingly restored to office by the subsequent public referendum.

Basescu's approval rates however have plummeted since, mainly because of drastic austerity measures his center-right allies imposed in 2010 in agreement with the European Union and the International Monetary Fund.

'Blitzkrieg' On Democratic Institutions

The last center-right government fell in May following a no-confidence vote, bringing Ponta's ex-communists and his liberal ally, PNL, to power.

The opposition center-right speakers of both houses of parliament were sacked on Tuesday, prompting the Romanian media to speak of a "blitzkrieg" against the country's fragile democratic institutions.

Basescu on Tuesday likened the leftist government's actions to its crackdown on the opposition in 1990, when then-president Ion Iliescu, Ponta's mentor, summoned thousands of miners to Bucharest to attack pro-democracy protesters.

Basescu warned that the final goal of the government's drive to impeach him was to take control of the judiciary after former premier Adrian Nastase last month became the first high-profile politician to be sent to jail for corruption.

Romanian journalist and talk show host Robert Turcescu told RFE/RL that the independence of the judiciary poses the highest threat to Romania's corrupt politicians.

"The biggest gain of the past several years," Turcescu said, "is that the most important thing in a democracy -- the judiciary -- has become independent, and was allowed to self-regulate its working framework."

'Strong Reaction From Civil Society'

Romanian rights groups have sent an open letter to the European Commission saying that the rule of law was under "unprecedented attack" from the USL.

Journalist Robert Turcescu however believes Romanians themselves must take action rather than complaining abroad:

"As a citizen and journalist of this country, what I want is not to have to wait for the salvation to come either from the Americans or the European institutions when democracy is veering off the road in my country. What I want is a strong and firm reaction from the civil society," said Turcescu.

Several hundred people gathered on July 4 in front of the government's headquarters calling for efforts to "save democracy" and demanding that Ponta resign after an academic panel confirmed his PhD thesis had been plagiarized.

A larger protest against Ponta and his government is scheduled for July 5.

(With additional reporting by AFP, Reuters)

Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/r omania-ponta-basescu-/24635470.html

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Romanian Parliament Moves To Impeach President