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| Recent Rulings by the Constitutional Court of Romania |
| (2012-06-28) |
| Last updated: 2012-06-28 13:31 EET |
The fierce battle between the power and the opposition in Romania in recent years has led to a complete change in the status of the Constitutional Court. From a mediator only rarely called upon to intervene in the conflicts between the different parties, the Court has gradually become a leading actor on the domestic political scene, following the many cases brought to its attention. On Wednesday, the Constitutional Court ruled on two cases of great interest in Romania recently: the country’s representation at the important European meetings, with emphasis on the European Council summit held this week, and the law on the introduction of the relative majority voting system.
With the coming to power in May of the Social Liberal Union, made up of the Social Democratic Party, the National Liberal Party and the Conservative Party, the capacity of the president as the sole representative of the country in such meetings has been repeatedly called into question. The new prime minister, the Social Democrat Victor Ponta, who is in an open conflict with president Traian Basescu, has made public his intention to attend the European summits dealing with certain topics instead of the president.
Called on by Traian Basescu to state its position on the issue, the Constitutional Court ruled that it is the president who should represent Romania at the European Council meetings. The Court says the president can, however, pass this responsibility on to the prime minister if he wishes. The judges of the Constitutional Court noted the existence of a legal conflict of a constitutional nature between the government and the president, following the latter’s exclusion from the delegation taking part in the European Council summit on the 28th and 29th of June. While the president’s office refused to comment on the Court’s decision, the prime minister spoke about “the politicisation of the Court” and justified his presence in Brussels:
Victor Ponta: “I will try, based on a mandate from the government and parliament, to represent Romania’s position in the debates concerning economic growth, jobs and the budget of the European Union.”
Ponta’s main argument is the recent political declaration adopted by the parliament in Bucharest according to which it is the prime minister who has to represent Romania at European Union meetings discussing economic, social and financial issues. Another ruling by the Constitutional Court refers to the unconstitutional nature of the law on the relative majority voting system, which has been passed by the new parliamentary majority.
The law, which has been criticised by many NGOs, mainly stipulates that senators and deputies are elected in a single election round based on relative majority voting, which also leads to the elimination of the election threshold. Commentators say this system, never tested in Romania before, allows the Social Liberal Union to easily secure an overwhelming parliamentary majority in this autumn’s legislative elections.
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