Romania is entering a darker period for the rule of law than ever before. Romania’s Senate is preparing to legislate to limit our rights and democracy with two bills to be voted on in plenary this week.

The first is the PNL-PSD initiative, which limits the right of NGOs to take legal action against abuses they observe. This seems to be an initiative that will benefit real estate developers, given the recent conflicts in Bucharest. But it is more than that.

Parliamentarians have found how to improve the protection of “business” that is carried out illegally in any sphere, that affects public interests and citizens and that corruption or indifference of the authorities does not sufficiently protect from the anger of the people. About people who can no longer breathe because of pollution, about people who no longer have the sun in their homes because of illegal construction, about people who no longer have forests and rivers because they are shredded by the party machine that feeds parties and politicians.

Intimidation and restriction of access to justice

The “protection” they offer senators against dirty businessmen and abusive institutions is to intimidate outraged citizens and limit their rights to act to protect their interests:

• Citizens must form their association two years before the matter they wish to litigate, and the association must be continuously active during that period, for have the right to legal action.
• The association may apply to the court, including for control over the legality of some administrative acts, only if the scope corresponds to the purpose and tasks of the organization set forth in the charter.
• The association must provide a guarantee in the amount of 1% of the investment value, but not more than 10,000 euros. Which NGO do you think has €10,000 in its accounts to put up a guarantee?
• If the association loses the suit, the board members pay damages, subject to limitations, jointly and severally with the association. To learn to protest.
• If a citizen was a member of a liquidated association, he no longer has the right to be a member of the board of directors of another association for 5 years.
• According to Law 544, associations are required to create registers with tax referrals from citizens and companies to make them public. This information is available at ANAF. If they do not have these registers, NGOs are dissolved!

Law 544 applies to government institutions, not public organizations and companies, and the authorities generally do not respect it. ANAF should be transparent about how tax money is diverted. This would be a great exercise in analyzing citizens’ civic behavior, and it would be a great open data exercise. And, perhaps, in this way, they would take responsibility not to delay the transfer of money to the accounts of public organizations. No, senators burden public organizations with new bureaucratic tasks, which already lack resources.

Alliance of authorities against citizens

The report with which the project was approved by the Legal Commission and will be presented at the plenary session is here.

The horror was initiated by an impressively large number of senatorsPNL and PSD: Daniel Fenechiu – PNLChristian-Augustin Niculescu-Ţagârlaş – PNL; Roberta Anastas – PNLViorel-Risard Badea – PNL Claudia-Michaela Banu – PNLDanuţ Bica – PNLJulian-Mykhailo Bika – PNLFlorian-Dorel Bodog – PSD, Septimiu-Sebastian Bourcanou – PNLLiviu Bratescu – PNLSorin-Joan Bamb – PNLRobert-Marius Kazanchuk – PSDYoan-Christian Hirtesh – PNLTitus Corlecean – PSDIoan Christina – PNLAleksandru-Rezvan Kuk – PSDVasyl Dinku – PSDLaura-Michaela Fulgenanu-Moger – PNLVirgil Guran – PSDMatei Kostyantyn-Bohdan – PSDPatricia Simina Arina Mosh -PNL, Nicolae Neagu – PNLStefan Radu Oprea – PSDCiprian Pandea – PNLEugene Pirvulescu – PNLVlad-Mirce Pufu – PNLGeorge Scarlet – PNLEugene Nazare Ţapu – PNLMarius-Gheorghe Toancine – PSDMarcel Vela – PNLMykhailo Vestea – PNLSorin Vlashin – PSD. Civil society constantly protested, but senators ignored all arguments.

This draft law attacks citizens and their fundamental rights. And this is not the only step taken by politicians to consolidate their power over society. It undermines civil society and attacks the right to association.

Citizens and the European rule of law mechanism that does not impress the knights of illiberalism

The basis of democracy is the citizen, with his rights and freedoms. A citizen who unites with others who share the same views and values ​​and acts to protect them. Yes, this means that sometimes citizens united in associations come into conflict with the actions of some institutions, with the interests of some business – more or less legal and fair – and politicians.

This is legal.This is the right of citizens to protection.

It is the right and duty of citizens to join the life of the community, to make it better.

It is also a criterion for measuring the functioning of democracy. A democracy in which citizens participate is a living democracy.

Western democracies encourage such participation by delegating as much power as possible to citizens through participatory projects.

Democracy is not just voting once every 4 years. Citizens do not renounce their position as citizens when they vote. It does not give up everything and does not transfer absolute power to any politician by voting. Not even the president of the state. Voting represents a mandate limited by the electoral program. With the exception of AUR, which is a declared legionary and anti-democratic party, no party in parliament has won votes by telling the citizens: “I will solve the problems by taking away your rights and lying about your money”!

The functioning of democracy depends on the functioning of control mechanisms that prevent the abuse of political and financial power. An important part of these mechanisms should be at the level of institutions, such as the judiciary or control bodies. It’s just that our institutions are often politically subjugated and/or run by spineless incompetents.

Under these conditions, the citizen remains the last redoubt for protection of democracy from Romania. And citizens unite in and around non-governmental organizations as an alternative to political organizations. Therefore, the senators’ action is a direct attack on citizens.

From the European point of view, it should be said that civil society is one of the criteria measured by the European Commission within the rule of law mechanism created to protect democracy in member states. If senators care so much about the European Rule of Law Mechanism, then:

1. or these convinced illiberals really do think the Commission is very weak
2. either it is really weak, or the tools created are ineffective to prevent the rule of law from being undermined from within
3. or Brussels should sound the alarm sooner about access to European funds.

Lawyer-client confidentiality – from law to working tool for SRI

Then another bill to be voted on by the Senate would regulate that the lawyer-client relationship take place digitally on a platform owned by… SRI. In recent years, the obsession of Romania’s special services to control everything has reached a paroxysmal level.

The client-lawyer relationship is confidential and involves the right to a defense and the presumption of guilt.

How can you trust the SRI, a secret service that operates in the shadows and beyond civilian control – despite the norms of consolidated democracies – and which is instead controlled politically?

But didn’t the parliamentarians, who also have criminal cases from time to time, think about how they will communicate with lawyers on the site belonging to the DRI? Are they really self-sabotaging? Or is the project promoted by people controlled by the SRI in the Romanian Parliament?

But not only the parliamentarians, and the citizens of Romania will lose because of this project.

The restoration is taking place before our eyes with the assistance of President Iohannis

Restoration in Romania is gaining momentum. It uses the mechanisms of the rule of law, digitalization, European funds and practices taught by the Kremlin to completely control citizens and society in an illiberal state.Read the entire article and comment on it at contributors.ro