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| The Week in Review |
| (2012-07-07) |
| Last updated: 2012-07-10 12:59 EET |
The Romanian President’s impeachment makes headlines.
The Romanian President, Traian Basescu, was suspended on Friday following a vote in Parliament which met in an extraordinary session. The impeachment request was forwarded by the ruling Social Liberal Union. The people will vote for or against the president’s impeachment in a referendum scheduled for July 29th. Interim president until the referendum will be Crin Antonescu, the president of the Senate, and co-leader of the Social Liberal Union.
The Social Liberal Union, made up of the Social Democratic Party, the National Liberal Party and the Conservative party, accused the president, among others, of having repeatedly infringed, over the past 3 years, the principle of the separation of powers in the state, the independence of the judiciary and the citizens’ fundamental freedoms and also of having undermined the PM’s attributions. In turn, president Basescu said that his impeachment is actually an attempt of the current ruling coalition to subordinate the state institutions, especially the judiciary. Also the president condemned what he called “the strong shattering of the rule of law” caused by the Social Liberal Union. The Constitutional Court, that had a consultative role in the impeachment procedure, established that the Romanian president did observe the independence of the justice system and that he had the right to announce the salary cuts operated in 2010 against the backdrop of the financial crisis. On the other hand the Court said that president T Basescu would have tried to diminish the role and attributions of the PM and did not do his best as mediator. Over the past 2 months, when the Social Liberal Union has been in power, the Social Liberal government and the president have had a permanent conflict over many issues among which the representation of Romania at European summits or the role of several institutions. According to analysts the consequences of this conflict are institutional dysfunctions, the deterioration of Romania’s image abroad and signals of political instability to foreign investors.
The Constitutional Court, the Victim of a Controversial Decision.
The prerogatives of the Romanian Constitutional Court, seen as the guardian of the Constitution, have been limited, following a controversial Government Ordinance adopted by the Social Liberal Union Government. The Government argued that their decision aimed at simplifying the Parliament’s activity. The ruling Social Liberal Union has repeatedly criticized some of the Court's magistrates for allegedly taking orders from President Traian Basescu and the Liberal Democratic Party. The Government's decision sparked protests by local NGOs and generated firm reactions from important international institutions. The Venice Commission, the Council of Europe's advisory body, denounced what it called “attempts of the Romanian Government to exert pressure on the Constitutional Court”. Over the past few years, the domestic political battle has completely changed the institution's status and turned it from a mediator that should rarely settle arguments between the two sides, into a main actor – a rather disturbing one for that matter – of the political stage. The appointments of some Constitutional Court magistrates, allegedly made according to political criteria, have raised suspicions over the fairness of some verdicts.
The presidents of the Romanian Senate and Chamber of Deputies have been replaced.
The Social Liberal Union has expanded its reach when it eliminated the last institutional enclaves directly or indirectly controlled by the Liberal Democratic Party. Following a genuine political blitzkrieg, the ruling alliance has managed to replace the Liberal Democratic heads of the two Parliament chambers in Bucharest. Thus, following procedures conducted throughout a single day, Vasile Blaga, the new leader of the Liberal Democratic Party and Roberta Anastase, were dismissed as heads of the Senate and Chamber of Deputies, respectively. Their positions were filled by Liberal leader Crin Antonescu, who is also co-chairman of the Social Liberal Union, and by Social Democrat Valeriu Zgonea respectively. Changes dictated by the Social Liberal Union have been made in several other institutions. The Romanian Cultural Institute, initially under the Presidency's patronage, has been put under the Senate's control. New presidents have been named to the Public Television and the Radio Broadcasting Corporation and the Official Gazette is controlled by the Government, while the Ombudsman has been also dismissed.
The Romanian national currency sees a new low.
Despite the intervention of the Central Bank in Bucharest, the devaluation of the national currency has seen a new all-time low, at 4.5 lei against the euro. Financial analysts say this exchange rate is the result of the political crisis in Bucharest and the contagious influence of the Eurozone, in particular Greece. The National Bank of Romania has repeatedly dismissed looming forecasts about the collapse of the leu, which even predicted that the Euro would be traded at 5 lei. The National Bank has given assurances that it is prepared to step in, at any time to prevent the exchange rate from becoming excessively volatile. Talks about the future of the national currency come at a time when the National Forecast Committee has estimated a 4.4 average exchange rate for this year.
Romania is in the grip of a severe heat wave.
Romanians have been faced with extremely high temperatures going up to 40 degrees Celsius this week. The heat wave, which has expanded to reach almost the entire country, has prompted the authorities to raise the alert level to yellow and even orange. Railway traffic has been disrupted, with several trains registering delays because of the heat.
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