10 ONG-uri au trimis ieri la Comisia Europeana urmatoarea scrisoare.
To:
The President of the European Commission, His Excellency Jose Manuel Barroso
The Vice-President of the European Commission, Her Excellency Viviane Reding
The Commissioner for Home Affairs, Her Excellency Cecilia Malmstrom
To the Secretary General of the European Commission, Ms. Catherine Day
Bucharest, July 3rd , 2012
Civil society warning: the rule of law under unprecedented attack in Romania
Dear Mr President
Dear Commissioners
This is the third warning in less than two months, issued by a list of reputable Romanian civil society organizations, since the current Socialist-Liberal ruling coalition took power. The drift towards a non-democratic regime has continued, with serious steps taken in the last few days which will potentially affect the independence of institutions and the separation of powers. There were open threats to dismiss and replace the judges of the Constitutional Court, which by Constitution are irremovable during their term of office, coming from the top government officials (the Prime Minister, the Minister of Justice). On July 3rd all the judges of the Constitutional Court have signed an open letter and sent a protest to the Venice Commission, signaling the political pressures on the institution. The ruling coalition has dismissed the independent Ombudsman during the parliament plenary of July 3rd , without due cause. The Ombudsman is the only Romanian institution entitled to challenge the emergency ordinances of the Government before the Constitutional Court. Presumably, it is by emergency decree that the dismissal of the Constitutional Court judges before the end of their mandates will take place. Though by law the Ombudsman may be replaced only if s/he breaches the Constitution or the laws, the speedy proceedings used