Romania’s one-month-old Cabinet was due to meet yesterday to scrap disputed changes to criminal legislation that sparked concerns they would roll back anti-corruption efforts, bowing to pressure from the largest protests since the collapse of communism in the nation.
About 330,000 people protested around Romania on Saturday for a fifth consecutive evening, with more than 150,000 people gathering in front of Victoria Palace in Bucharest.
Romanian Prime Minister Sorin Grindeanu called the emergency government meeting to repeal the changes approved on Tuesday last week. Still, the move might not be enough to end the protests as many participants have called for the government to resign, citing a lack of trust in the administration.
Photo: EPA
“I’ve listened to my colleagues in the party and in the opposition and I heard the voice of the street and I don’t want to split the country in two,” Grindeanu said. “I will start a debate shortly with all the parties on ways to change the criminal codes so that they meet the most recent rulings of the Constitutional Court.”
Romania’s Social Democratic Party (PSD) faces the largest backlash since the 1989 uprising that ousted late Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu. Romania’s third government in two years incurred the wrath of the public and Romanian President Klaus Iohannis by unexpectedly easing punishments for officials who abuse their positions and by seeking to free others from prison.
The protesters back the anti-graft drive that has ensnared top officials in the EU and NATO member nation, including an ex-Social Democrat premier.
The turmoil sent the leu 1 percent lower against the euro on Wednesday, the steepest decline in more than two years and one that erased all of its 2017 gains. It recovered about half of the losses in the past two days.
While S&P Global Ratings said risks to Romania’s investment-grade status are balanced, it warned that the turmoil could dent investor confidence and harm growth.
The government had planned to decriminalize abuse-of-office offenses for sums of less than 200,000 lei (US$47,670) and it sent a draft law to parliament to pardon prisoners serving sentences shorter than five years, excluding rapists and repeat offenders.
Grindeanu said new talks with parties might no longer refer to this threshold that sparked controversy.
While it said it sought to ease prison overcrowding, its actions would have freed hundreds ex-officials and potentially halt investigations of others.
They include an investigation into PSD leader Liviu Dragnea, who is seeking a retrial after receiving a suspended sentence for electoral fraud.
He denies wrongdoing and on Thursday blamed the protests on a misinformation campaign and encouragement from the president.
The controversy in Romania comes amid concern that other national governments are undermining the rule of law.
The EU has reprimanded Poland and Hungary for state encroachment on the judiciary and the media. Warsaw backed away from plans to tighten abortion rules after mass protests.
Anti-graft prosecutors are working on more than 2,000 abuse-of-office cases. In the past two years, they have sent more than 1,000 people to trial, seeking to recover damages in excess of 1 billion euros (US$1.08 billion).
The country of 19 million people ranks fourth-worst for graft in the EU, according to Berlin-based Transparency International.
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