Romania's Social Democrats and far-right AUR jointly appoint interim heads of public broadcasters

The two parties backed each other’s candidates under a parliamentary cooperation agreement, according to media reports. The two positions became vacant following a ruling by the Constitutional Court.

The two candidacies were approved by the joint bureaus of the two chambers of Parliament, News.ro reported.

Thus, Sorina Matei, formerly with Gandul newspaper, will serve as interim head of SRTV, while SRR director Răzvan Dincă will serve as interim head of the public radio broadcaster.

The Constitutional Court, by a majority vote, upheld complaints of unconstitutionality filed by AUR and ruled that Parliament’s decisions on the appointment of members of the boards of directors of public television and public radio were unconstitutional.

The CCR found that both decisions were unconstitutional because the eight board seats allocated to parliamentary groups on the boards of the two public companies should have been filled by candidates proposed in accordance with the political composition and relative strength of the parliamentary groups.

The two interim managers will remain in office until new boards of directors are appointed, after which procedures will be launched to appoint permanent managers. The interim terms will last 60 days.