President: Emergency Decree For Re-Opening High Profile Cases Is “Grossly Unconstitutional”

Speaking in Germany, where he attended the signing of a new French-German treaty, the president said that the approach “was not possible”, as a law could not have retroactive effects.

“We do not know exactly what the justice minister imagines to write in that decree. But, in my opinion, if he would publish what he said it would be proven as grossly unconstitutional. There are a number of principles everyone respects, and we have them anchored in the Constitution. One of these principles is the basis for the entire state building and rule of law: that a bill can only effect the future, so it cannot act retroactively. You can imagine that if a law could apply for the past, any Government could come and change the state’s past, and any trace of stability and predictability would disappear,” said the Romanian president.

Romanian Justice Minister Tudorel Toader announced on Sunday evening that the ministry has a draft emergency decree ready which would re-open all cases previously judged by the Supreme Court’s five-judge panels deemed to be illegally selected as per a Constitutional Court decision.

According to the minister, the decree’s draft is finished, and it is up to Prime Minister Viorica Dancila to decide when the act will be issued.

The decree in question would re-open all cases which received final decisions from the Supreme Court’s five-judge panels since 2013, regardless of whether they ended in sentencing or acquittals, as the panels in questions were formed through erroneous procedure according to a November 2018 Constitutional Court ruling.

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