Romanian Democrat Liberals Move To Oust Opposing Senate Chairman

The request was signed by PDL senators, seven independent senators and two senators from Hungarian minority party UDMR, which is the member of the current governing coalition.

Democrat liberal senator Constantin Igas said Wednesday the democrat liberals will set off procedures to suspend Geoana for his refusal to hold a vote on independent lawmakers' request to keep their positions in parliament committees.

Igas said in the Senate's plenary meeting Wednesday that Geoana abused his authority by refusing to put the matter to the vote.

Senator Liviu Campanu, leader of the independent group of MPs, requested in the beginning of the meeting that a vote be held on their request to keep their positions in the Senate's standing committees, a proposition also backed by democrat liberal senators.

Liberal and social democrat senators rejected the proposition, deeming it "unconstitutional."

Geoana, in turn, said his refusal was prompted by the fact that the arguments displayed during nearly two hours of debates are "heavily political," stressing a complex political issue cannot be tackled by holding a vote in a plenary meeting.

Geoana also said Wednesday, in response to democrat liberals' request to have him suspended from this position, that the Senate Regulation clearly stipulates the Senate chairman can only be revoked, not suspended.

Geoana voiced the Constitutional Court's decision whereby the Senate chairman can only be revoked by the parliamentary group that backed the respective chairman when the Chamber was established.

Geoana stressed that democrat liberals' request goes against "the Senate Regulation, valid laws and the Constitution."

Under the Senate's Regulation, the Senate chairman can be discharged from office only by the parliamentary group to which the chairman pertains.

According to the Constitutional Court, "the votes cast in favor of the Senate Chairman of the Chamber of Deputies Speaker are deemed political and can only be annulled if the parliamentary group that proposed the respective Speaker or the chairman requests their political revocation, or in case of revocation following severe sanctions triggered by questionable actions.

The Constitutional Court in 2005 declared unconstitutional the provisions of the Senate Regulation stipulating the Senate chairman can be discharged from office at the request of minimum one third of the total number of senators, if the chairman breaches the provisions of Constitution; severely or repeatedly breaches the provisions of the Senate's Regulation or the Regulation of the Parliament's meetings.

The Court also declared unconstitutional the provision stipulating the revocation of the Senate chairman can also be proposed by half plus one of the total number of senators.

The Romanian Senate's Standing Office decided Tuesday, after putting the matter to the vote, that senators who quit parliamentary parties to join the independent group of MPs will lose their positions in parliament standing committees.

Senate quaestor Ioan Chelaru said the Senate's Standing Office decided to reject the requests addressed by democrat liberals to allow independent senators to maintain their positions in parliament standing committees.

Chelaru said democrat liberals also proposed an alternative, namely that senators who quit parliament parties to join the independent group remain members in the parliament committees they first joined, by increasing the number of committee members.

The Parliament committee for legal matters decided on February 23 with four votes in favor and three votes against, that senators who quit parliament parties may still preserve their positions within the parliament committees where they were appointed, by increasing the number of committee members.

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