President Says He Is “Almost Decided” On Calling Judicial Referendum For May 26

Speaking at a debate titled “President or Citizen/Politician and Civil Society” during a documentary film festival, the president said that he began a thorough analysis on the opportunity of a referendum last week, adding that the wishes for Romanians to “clearly express whether they tolerate corruption”.

“I am almost decided on calling a referendum for May 26, when we have European elections. Give me a margin due to the need for a thorough debate. If I do call a referendum then I want the civil society as partners. There are Romanians who wish to give a clear signal and due to this we have been working intensely for the past week,” the head of state said.

“A referendum which would not leave issues hanging in suspense, which would express the nation’s attitude. I wish for the Romanian nation to clearly state whether it tolerates corruption, or if we draw a line and say enough. The large public systems, education, the judicial system are resilient enough but once they start creaking they are very hard to repair,” Iohannis added, also calling the current social-democrat governance a “thuggery”.

The president initially announced a referendum on judicial issues back in February 2017, following mass protests against a Government decree which softened anticorruption laws. Earlier this year, the Constitutional Court ruled that a referendum can be organized at the same time with European Parliament electons.