Proposal to impeach President read in Parliament plenary session

Deputy Titus Corlatean of the Social-Democratic Party (PSD, main opposition party) on Wednesday read before the joint Chambers of Parliament the proposal to impeach President Traian Basescu, initiated by 182 MPs.

In their proposition, the initiators assert that the ‘President’s impeachment is justified and grounded by his successively and seriously infringing the Constitution from the very first day of his term’ and ask the Parliament, by way of the proposition, to adopt the impeachment of the President of Romania, on ground that ‘through his conduct, he sets the well functioning of the state at jeopardy.’

The 182 MPs also asked the Constitutional Court to acknowledge the solid grounds of the proposition to impeach the President, the existence of serious infringement of the Constitution, and hence approve their approach.

As reads the proposition for the impeachment of the head of the state, structured into six chapters with 25 points of accusation, ‘after two years of exerting the mandate of President of Romania, Traian Basescu proves that he cannot keep within the constitutional parameters of the position of chief of state.’

Moreover, the 182 MPs consider that they have witnessed ‘from the part of the one who swore to observe the Constitution (Ed. Note – Traian Basescu), repeated infringements of his prerogatives, of the President’ role as mediator between the powers of state aimed at ensuring the well functioning of public authorities, serious abuses and infringements of the Constitution, acts of defiance and denigration of the fundamental institutions of the state.’

Among the ’serious deeds’ listed by the signatories of the impeachment proposition are the altering of the meaning of the 2004 elections, the interference with and blocking of two sessions of Parliament by attempts to have the chairmen of the two Chambers replaced, the breach of the President’s constitutional role in relation with the Government and other state institutions, mainly by deliberately addressing the Premier the blunt request to resign so as to trigger early elections, the infringement of the principle of powers separation in the state – with reference to the judicial power – and the breach of article 64 of the Constitution referring to the organization of the Parliament.

Moreover, among Traian Basescu’s ’serious deeds’ the initiators also mentioned the interfering in favor of certain measures with economic or administrative character, the blocking of a document’s circuit, document concealment, the unlawful attending of government sessions in attempts to gain authority over the Executive.

In the proposal, the signatories state that the acts of President Traian Basescu affected the ‘credibility of state institutions or public dignitaries,’ causing ‘institutional gridlock and decreasing the efficiency and operation speed of particular institutions,’ ‘the citizen’s losing confidence in authorities,’ ‘the shifting away from the real problems of the country and citizens,’ and ’shaping a negative image abroad of state authorities and of the Romanian state as a whole.’

On the other hand, the signatories emphasized the fact that ‘what makes Basescu’s presidential attitude and action particularly serious is the repetition of his abusive deeds, his irremediable non-constitutional attitude.’

In the first chapter of the impeachment proposal, Traian Basescu is accused by the 182 parliamentarians of violating the principles of the rule of law, of the principle of democracy and political pluralism, of disregarding the part Parliament has to play as a supreme representative body of the Romanian people and of ignoring the provisions of the Constitution, which regulates the relationships between Romania’s President and Parliament.

According to Chapter 2, the head of state ignored the constitutional texts referring to the role of the President in his relations with the Government and with the other bodies of the public administration, stipulated in Articles 102, 107, 116, 117 and 119 of the Constitution.

In Chapter 3, Basescu is also accused by the opposition of violating the principle of the separation of state powers, provided for in the first article of the Constitution, and the texts regulating the relations of the President with the judges as well as the constitutional provisions referring to the Constitutional Court.

In Chapter 4, the signatories appreciated that the President also disregarded the constitutional provisions ‘referring to the general compulsoriness of observing the laws and to the defence of the citizens’ fundamental rights’ and in the last but one chapter they mentioned the fact that Traian Basescu ignored the presidential prerogatives related to his being the head of state, representative of the Romanian State, exceeding the sphere of his tasks in the field of Romania’s foreign policy.

Here the signatories reproached the head of state with his using the secret services to watch the political class, a fact he admitted in an interview published by daily Jurnalul National.

In the last chapter of the impeachment proposal, the 182 parliamentarians accused the head of state of ‘disregarding the status of the position of Romania’s President and his role of defender of the Constitution and mediator, provided for in Article 182 of the Constitution.’

They said that the collocation ‘President-player’ put Traian Basescu ‘not only in a formal legal state running counter to the constitutional texts, but also in a real conflicting state with the parliamentary political parties, implicitly with the political groups in Parliament, in a conflicting state with Parliament, the Government and the judges.’

‘President Traian Basescu did not understand and it is clear he does not want to understand that the person holding the position of Romania’s President is not permitted to have any kind of behaviour, as a non-constitutional behaviour of the person during his term in office is tantamount to exerting the competence of the authority outside the constitutional framework,’ concluded the initiators of the procedure meant to impeach the President. ROMPRES