MPs decide Romania can easier impeach president

The Romanian Chamber of Deputies adopted on Tuesday, with 187 votes "for", 56 "against" and 5 abstentions, the draft law amending and establishing the president's impeachment, in the referendum by a majority vote of those present at the polls.

The new rules, proposed by members of the Social Liberal Union governing coalition, will mean the president can be impeached by a simple majority of voters in a referendum. The draft law was criticized by representatives of the Democrat Liberal Party (PDL), saying that the USL is trying to impose a differentiated regime for dismissal of elected officials, while the mayors of the county councils can be dismissed with half plus one of those registered in the lists. "Your proposal has only one meaning, you want to initiate a procedure to suspend the President (...) If we do it solely for the sake of revenge on someone, the wheel of history will turn," said Mircea Toader, vice leader of the USL group in the Chamber of Deputies. On the other hand, Eugen Nicolaescu, the president of a PNL committee, argued that "when the Romanian president is elected by half plus one of those present to vote, so he must leave." “There is a Romanian saying, that what you fear most, you won’t escape, we will get rid of Traian Basescu”, said Nicolaescu. The Romanian President and the Prime Minister have been quarreling in the last couple of weeks , mainly because of the participation of the European Council. Ioana Toader, ioana.toader@romania-insider.com