Romanian Social Democrats To Challenge Law Allowing Political Appointees At Decentralized Services

According to Dusa, the draft law allows the political clientele to fill management positions within decentralized state institutions and it also stipulates recentralizing public servants’ activity.

Dusa stressed that so far, mayoralties have been in charge with appointing people to public positions, whereas now, the draft law stipulates „recentralizing the entire activity at the level of the Agency of Public Servants, forcing mayoralties to ask approval for any trifle whatsoever.”

Liberal (PNL) group deputy leader Eugen Nicolaescu said Tuesday that liberals will challenge the draft law on the Statute of Public Servants in the Constitutional Court Wednesday, stressing this procedure might be carried out jointly with social democrats.

Nicolaescu said liberals decided to challenge the draft law because it breaches constitutional provisions, arguing its regulations go against Romania’s Constitution, considering that the law regulating the Statute of Public Servants, which is organic and was adopted with an absolute majority, made it possible for Romania to join the European Union on January 1, 2007.

In turn, democrat liberal (PDL) group leader Mircea Toader said Tuesday the parliamentary majority backing the country’s government run by democrat liberals and the Hungarian minority party has managed to adopt this important law and stressed that liberals and social democrats’ plan to challenge the draft law stands no chance whatsoever.

Toader also said the current majority in the Parliament can adopt any law despite harsh opposition from liberals and social democrats.

The Romanian Chamber of Deputies adopted Tuesday, with 172 pros, no cons and no abstentions the draft law on the Statute of Public Servants, while the two main opposition parties, PNL and PSD were absent from the proceedings.

The vote was cast through a show of hands, and not electronically, at Toader’s request.

During voting, 172 MPs voted in favor of passing the law, thus Chamber Speaker Roberta Anastase dubbed the document adopted.

Social democrat (PSD) and liberal (PNL) MPs did not attend the proceedings, as protest against the fact that this document and its voting was forced on the agenda, and the report of the Administration Committee was also compiled in an „illegitimate” fashion.