President Basescu: EC Deems Romania’s Parl Hinders Probes, Interferes With Legal System

The head of state made this statement after he was asked to comment on deputies’ debate on Tuesday regarding the request for approval to prosecute the country’s former Prime Minister Adrian Nastase.

 

"Romania misinterprets the issue of political immunity. I would rather refrain from further comments, as I have no business whatsoever with Adrian Nastase and I am not interested in Nastase. To me, he is an ordinary man with his own problems, joys and family, but who deserves respect and consideration, as Romania’s former prime minister and a prominent politician," Basescu said.

 

Basescu declined to comment on the activity of the Parliament, which, he stressed, is the actual supreme institution in Romania, not him, the head of state.

 

Furthermore, he said he is interested in the Parliament’s actions because he knows very well that if the Parliament hinders probes against politicians, then, the European Commission will clearly say in its upcoming justice report, as it did in its previous reports, that Romania’s Parliament interferes with the legal system. 

 

Nastase’s trial was suspended Tuesday and the file was sent to the Constitutional Court, after the Supreme Court admitted an exception of unconstitutionality to the Anticorruption Department’s summons.

 

This decision is final according to legal norms and Anticorruption Department prosecutors may not ask for an appeal in this case, because of the exception of unconstitutionality.