Prime Minister Nicolae Chuke, leader of the PNL, announces that his party has decided to support the Justice Ministry’s proposal to set a threshold of 9,000 lei to decriminalize abuse of office in a draft passed by the Senate on Wednesday. Chuke also announced that he had instructed the Liberal Leader of the Chamber of Deputies to table this amendment on behalf of the PNL.

• “Tonight, we decided to support the proposal of the Ministry of Justice regarding the threshold of 9,000 lei for the crime of abuse of official position.
• I instructed the leader of the PNL group from the Chamber of Deputies, Gabriel Andronake, to present this amendment on behalf of the National Liberal Party to support and pass it,” Nicolae Chuke wrote in a Facebook post on Wednesday evening.

RENEWAL:

And PSD leader Marcel Čolaku announced at the same time, also in a Facebook post, that he supports the 9,000 lei threshold proposed by the Ministry of Justice in the abuse of office case.

• “I took note of the Ministry of Justice’s response to my request and proposal regarding setting a threshold of 9,000 lei in terms of abuse of office.
• The government coalition will support the proposal of experts of the Ministry of Justice.
• We also discussed with Prime Minister Chuke and will adopt amendments to this law,” Marcel Choaku wrote on Facebook.

It will be recalled that the Senate adopted a draft of amendments to the Criminal Code, which establish a value threshold for abuse and negligence in the service. More precisely, if the damage is less than 250,000 lei, i.e. 50,000 euros, then there is no crime. This was provided for by Law No. 13, which brought hundreds of thousands of people to the streets, only then the threshold was 200,000 lei.

The amendment providing for this amount belongs to the PSD, PNL and UDMR and was included in the draft law passed by the Senate on Wednesday by 78 votes to 25.

The amendment tabled by Coalition parliamentarians refers to a bill tabled by the government, which, however, did not provide for a threshold, but only stated that it is an offense to abuse a position and to be negligent if a public servant fails to comply with a law, order or emergency order that causes harm or injury to a person.

The proposed amendments to the Criminal Code with regard to crimes related to abuse and official negligence are justified by several decisions of the Constitutional Court, in which, on the one hand, it is stated that non-enforceable acts, i.e. primary legislation, must be indicated, and on the other hand side that a threshold value is needed.

The Ministry of Justice proposes to set a threshold of 9,000 lei

The Ministry of Justice reacted on Wednesday evening, more than half a day after the Senate passed the draft, with a vote of PSD, PNL and UDMR senators.

The Ministry of Justice recalls the decisions of the Constitutional Court, which required the establishment of a value threshold for the decriminalization of abuse of office, but without a limit.

The ministry, led by Katalin Preda, says that for the debate in the Chamber of Deputies on the bill on the threshold level for the crime of abuse of office, it will support the adoption by the deputies of the threshold of 9,000 lei.

Read on this topic:

• The PSD-PNL coalition rethinks GEO 13 / Decriminalization of abuse and negligence in the service in the event of a loss of less than 50,000 euros – draft adopted by the Senate
• Arch overtime: essence of OUG 13 copied and pasted by PSD-PNL-UDMR coalition after six years
• List of senators who voted for the new Ordinance 13: All PSD, PNL, UDMR parliamentarians vote yes / AUR abstained
• Cholak’s first reaction after the restoration of GEO 13 in the Senate. PSD leader passes responsibility to PNL
• What Klaus Iohannis said in 2017 about the partial decriminalization of abuse of office: “The introduction of a threshold, regardless of how it is calculated, would be arbitrary and I don’t think it will help”
• Kovesi after the Senate unearthed GEO 13: the European Prosecutor’s Office will inform the European Commission if the law is adopted by the deputies
• The European Commission, notified by the USR MEP regarding the project to decriminalize abuse of office for damage up to 50,000 euros: “Romania is buried!”
• First voice from PNL to say Senate abuse of office threshold ‘mistake’
• After all PNL senators voted for the new GEO 13, Raresh Bohdan claims that PNL does not want a threshold for abuse of office: I assure you that neither I nor PNL have changed
• The first vice-president of the NLP: The NLP did not have a political decision on the abuse of official position / We will discuss it in the party and fix it in the Chamber of Deputies
• PHOTO Hundreds of people are protesting on Victory Square: “Thieves”, “They gave, they gave the will to steal!”