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| The Boldea Case and the Regime of Parliamentary Immunity |
| (2012-03-27) |
| Last updated: 2012-03-28 12:55 EET |
Romanian MP, Mihai Boldea, who has been put on an international APB for several crimes such as forgery and fraud, with severe consequences, has given himself up at the Romanian Consulate in Nairobi, Kenya. Last week, the Romanian authorities issued an international arrest warrant, in absentia, on Boldea’s name, after the Chamber of Deputies had lifted his immunity.
Boldea, a former member of the Liberal Democratic Party and then of the National Union for the Progress of Romania (both in the ruling coalition) has expressed his wish to return to Romania, to defend himself against what he called “the abuses” he has been subject to, bringing accusations against the prosecutors. However, the way he chose to leave the country has stirred controversies among the political class, the mass media and civil society.
Journalist Cristian Tudor Popescu, a senior editor of the online daily “Gandul.info” says the way the MP fled the country has affected, if not even marred, the image of the authorities, both at national and international level. These days, the Boldea case has brought back into the limelight an old issue: the need for the election law to be amended, an idea which has been embraced, at least at declarative level, by both the power and the opposition.
Although it has been on parliamentary strike since February, the Social Liberal opposition on Monday stated its readiness to resume its activity in Parliament, if amending the election law came under discussion. The leader of the Social Democratic Party and co-president of the Social Liberal Union, Victor Ponta, has said the reasons behind that move are related to the Boldea case, because of late, MPs who are under criminal investigation have cast votes in Parliament.
Furthermore, as a result of political party switching, some MPs have changed the structure of the parliamentary majority. Ponta has expressed the Social Liberal Union’s wish to set up a Power-Opposition joint think tank to amend the election law, to introduce the classical uninominal vote and to eliminate political party switching, by introducing a provision stipulating that defectors would lose their MP seats. According to Ponta, the future law should clearly stipulate, among others, the way in which the candidates for a seat in the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies are nominated, should establish the MPs’ responsibilities and to provide sanctions, for MPs and even for members of the cabinet.
In a first response, the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party (the main party in the ruling coalition), former PM, Emil Boc has accused the opposition of hypocrisy, recalling that the current election law, which makes possible for candidates ranking second or third on the election ticket to win a seat in parliament, has been voted by the National Liberal Party and the Social Democratic Party, which are now making up the Social Liberal Union. Subsequently, the Liberal Democratic Party and the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania (a partner in the ruling coalition) has complied with the opposition’s request.
The leaders of the parliamentary groups on Tuesday decided to set up a think tank, consisting of 6 representatives of the power, of the opposition and of the national ethnic minorities, other than the Hungarian one.
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