Romanian Parliament To Restart Debates On National Integrity Law’s Unconstitutional Provisions

Chamber of Deputies committee for legal matters head Daniel Buda also said the ANI law will enter debates in the Chamber.

The Constitutional Court Monday ruled unconstitutional the revised version of the law regulating the activity of the ANI law, after President Traian Basescu challenged the revised normative act’s constitutionality. The decision of the Court will be forwarded to the head of state, the Parliament and the prime minister.

Last week, Basescu challenged with the Constitutional Court the revised version of the ANI law, citing breaches of certain constitutional provisions regarding law adoption procedures and the powers of the two chambers of the Parliament.

Romania’s Parliament has amended the law regulating the country’s integrity agency, a EU-required anticorruption body that screened public officials’ wealth and recommended prosecution for alleged illicit gains in a move to tackle endemic corruption, after the country’s Constitution Court found the initial law unconstitutional. The new law, however, considerably weakens the agency’s powers.