Romania’s Constitutional Court rejects penal code amendments

Amendments to the penal code passed by Romania’s Parliament last month, which limited anticorruption investigations against MPs and the president, were turned down by the Constitutional Court on Wednesday.  

The changes have been vigorously attacked by several foreign embassies, including the US and Germany, which claimed these measures would dent Romania’s effort to prosecute high ranking political officials.

The amendments would exclude the president, MPs and people in liberal professions from the status of public workers, thus limiting any investigations by the National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA). The Parliament also passed changes to provisions regarding the conflict of interest.

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Romania’s High Court and right wing party PDL submitted requests to the Constitutional Court to reject the amendments. In its request, the High Court argued that the changes favor some persons over the other in certain situations.

President Traian Basescu commented last month the Parliament’s vote on the penal code “destroyed” the activity of anticorruption institutions in the past 10 years.

Ovidiu Posirca