Romanian Ministers Should Not Be MPs Too – Romanian Pres Committee

"If a Member of Parliament becomes a member of the Government, there can be two solutions: the replacement of said member or the suspension of the Parliament membership throughout the interval in which that person is a member of the Government," said the committee’s report, presented Wednesday at the Cotroceni Palace.

 

The report states that, at the moment, there are two types of Parliament immunity, one covering MPs who are also members of the government and another one for dignitaries who are only MPs.

 

For regular MPs, the provisions of article 72 of the Constitution are applied, while for those who are also members of Government, an additional conclusion is imposed: criminal investigations are requested by the two chambers of Parliament and by the president of Romania. This condition was interpreted by the Constitutional Court in the sense that it is not enough for the president of Romania to request criminal investigations. The chamber hosting the Government member targeted by criminal investigations needs to approve as well.