Chamber of Deputies gives green light to National Integrity Agency law

The lower Chamber of the Romanian Parliament voted on Monday the draft law on the National Integrity Agency (ANI) with 204 favorable votes, while two were against and two abstentions. Members of the social democratic (PSD) opposition party refused to vote on the bill and left the meeting. Party leader leader Victor Ponta said his party would not attend the debates on the national integrity law, as its unconstitutionality issues were not solved. The Constitutional Court ruled unconstitutional the revised version of the law regulating the activity of the ANI in July tis year, after Romanian president Traian Basescu challenged the revised law's constitutionality. The Romanian Parliament had amended the ANI law, but the new law gave the agency fewer powers. The European Commission has said it a recent report that the revised law is a serious step back in the fight against corruption. ANI is an anticorruption body which looks into the wealth of public officials and can prosecute them for illegal gains.