On Friday, President Klaus Iohannis sent to the parliament for re-consideration a normative act on amendments and additions to the Law on the Creation, Organization and Functioning of the Legislative Council, one of the reasons cited by the head of state is the status of the powers of those who manage this forum. The regulation brought back by Iohannis provides that the powers of the president of the Legislative Council and the chairmen of the existing sections expire five years after the entry into force of this law and can be extended only once. Now the law does not provide for the limitation of the powers of the chairman of the Legislative Council, nor the procedure for his recall.

Since October 2020, the Legislative Council has been headed by PSD MP Florin Iordake, former Minister of Justice and author of Decree 13, which changes justice laws in favor of Liviu Dragnea and which brought thousands of Romanians to the streets.

How Yohannis advocates resubmitting the law to parliament

As reported in the Presidential Administration, this law cancels the condition of approving the regulation on the organization and activity of the Legislative Council at a joint meeting of the permanent apparatuses of both houses of the parliament based on the conclusion of the joint legal commissions.

• “Taking into account the constitutional role of the Legislative Council as a specialized advisory body of the Parliament, which approves the drafts of normative acts for the purpose of systematization, unification and coordination of all legislation, we understand that it is necessary to preserve this condition as a guarantee of the functional connection between the Parliament of Romania and this constitutional body” , – said the head of state, reports Agerpres.

Article 3 of the law stipulates that “the mandates of the president of the Legislative Council and the chairmen of the current sections shall expire five years after the date of entry into force of this law and may be extended only once.”

Since the law establishes the duration of the mandates of the president of the Legislative Council and the heads of sections for a period of five years and establishes that the mandates can be extended only once, Article 3 “contradicts the newly introduced mechanism that equates, from the point of view of the duration of the mandate, the resetting of their duration at the moment entry into force by law, directly by law,” the request for re-examination states.

• “Given that according to the current legislation, the duration of the powers of the chairman of the Legislative Council and the heads of sections is not established, the provisions of Article 3 are in fact equivalent from a legal point of view. to new appointments to these positions.
• In its jurisprudence, the Constitutional Court analyzed the conformity with the Constitution of some legal provisions that change the legal regime of some powers – regarding powers that have an appointment, appointment conditions, duration or cases of termination – in state institutions, a situation in which the constitutional consecration of the relevant institutions was for the declared solution relevant and decisive,” the president adds.

In his opinion, a re-analysis of the legislative decision provided for in Article 3, “which is equivalent, from a legal point of view, to a new legislative appointment of the leadership of the Legislative Council, is necessary all the more because a norm was found in the form of an initiator who was rejected by the Chamber of Deputies during the parliamentary procedure on the grounds that he did not get the necessary number of votes to pass the organic law.”

The Legislative Council is responsible for approving draft laws submitted to parliament before they are discussed by parliamentarians. In addition, Article 4 of Law No. 73 of November 3, 1993 on the creation, organization and functioning of the Legislative Council provides that “draft resolutions and decisions of a normative nature are submitted for adoption by the Government only with the approval of the Legislative Council within the terms established by Art. 3 of the law: 10 days, 2 days, respectively 24 hours.” It should be noted that the heads of the institution do not have limited powers, more precisely, they can stay in office as long as they want, since the law does not provide for any procedure for their recall.