Revision commission gives final green light to Romanian Constitution revision draft

The Constitutional revision draft received on Wednesday (June 19) the final favorable vote from the revision commission, with 17 votes in favor and one abstention. The draft will be submitted for approval to the Parliament. On Tuesday (June 18,) the Commission tasked with revising the Constitution completed the debates and adopted the final amendments. The Commission’s members adopted the provision according to which a minister can be dismissed through a simple motion. “A minister whose dismissal has been requested through a simple motion adopted by both Chambers of Parliament, will be removed from office at the Prime Minister’s proposal,” reads the amendment, according to local news agency Mediafax. Another amendment adopted Tuesday by the Commission stipulates the reduction of the minimum number of citizens who can initiate a legislative proposal, to 75,000, from the current 100,000. Some other changes to the fundamental laws adopted by the Commission for revising the Constitution included the amendment stating that discrimination is banned, including for race, sexual orientation and genetic traits, or the amendment forwarded by Social Democrat (PSD) deputy Gheorghe Emacu, which says that Romania’s coat of arms should appear on the country’s national flag. Another amendment passed by the revision Commission states that the family is based on the freely consented marriage between a “man and a woman”, a phrase that replaces the word “spouses” - present in the current text of the law. The Commission also adopted the change proposed by the Social Democratic Party PSD, through which the concept of regions is to be enshrined in the text of the Constitution: “The territory is organized, administratively, into communes, cities, counties and regions. Under the law, some cities are declared municipalities.” According to the local media, other amendments proposed for Romania’s division into regions were rejected. Moreover, the commission tasked with revising the Constitution rejected all amendments proposing that the national day be on May 10. Romania’s national day is celebrated on December 1, the day that marks Romania’s unification, in 1918. The Revision Commission worked for less than three weeks on the project. According to Catherine Day,the Secretary-General of the European Commission, the Constitution revision process will be closely analyzed by the European Commission. Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-inisder.com