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Romania’s Constitutional Court Rules On Govt Vs CSAT Matter

The judges of the Constitutional Court ruled that the government broke other laws, but not the Constitution when it enacted normative acts without consulting the High Council for National Defense, or CSAT first.
Romania’s Constitutional Court Rules On Govt Vs CSAT Matter
28 feb. 2008, 17:34, English

The constitutional court confirms that the constitution does not explicitly stipulate the compulsoriness of government to consult the CSAT regarding its decisions and said that no constitutional conflict was found between the two institutions.

The court said that government’s failure to ask for the approval of the CSAT regarding certain decisions did not affect the legislative process nor did it create an “institutional blocking”.

On January 8, President Traian Basescu asked the Constitutional Court to declare unconstitutional two government ordinances that were approved without prior approval from CSAT.

The president said that the government emergency ordinance on the reorganization of the interior ministry, as well as the ordinance amending the Law on military pensions and the Statute of military personnel should have been approved by CSAT first and then promoted by the government

Due to the government’s “unconstitutional activity,” Basescu asked the Constitutional Court to settle the “legal conflict between the two parties, namely the government and CSAT,” the statement noted.

Basescu said the government should have presented the mentioned acts to CSAT for approval, as the Ministry of Interior has attributions in the field of national security.

CSAT’s prior approval was mandatory in this case, Basescu said, mentioning the government infringed the provisions of article 119 of Romanian Constitution.