Romania's justice minister loses ruling party’s support before motion vote in Parliament

The Social Democratic Party's senators will be free to vote however they feel on the motion against justice minister Tudorel Toader on Wednesday, April 10, the president of the Romanian Senate’s legal committee, PSD's Robert Cazanciuc said on Tuesday, according to local G4media.ro.

Many PSD MPs are disappointed with the minister's activity, Cazanciuc added, implying that the Senate would pass the motion against Toader.

PSD president Liviu Dragnea openly expressed his disappointment with the justice minister's refusal to sign several emergency ordinances that would much ease the legal troubles some of the party’s leaders, including Dragnea himself, are facing in corruption cases, Europa Libera reported in a comment on the complicated situation inside the senior ruling party. However, Dragnea denied once again that the respective ordinances would help him in any way.

Tudorel Toader took an unexpected position firmly opposing the said ordinances and saying they wouldn't be issued “since there is no emergency,” according to a Facebook post at the end of last week.

“He fooled us all,” Dragnea said on April 8 speaking in a TV show at Romania TV, referring to Toader's earlier promise to adopt the respective ordinances. The PSD leader added that the Parliament would, sooner or later, pass the changes that should have been included in the ordinances.

Under the baseline scenario, PSD is expected to dismiss Tudorel Toader after the Senate passes the motion against him on April 10. But Digi24 comments about prime minister Viorica Dancila siding with minister Toader and resisting Dragnea’s request to dismiss him, an unexpected situation considering the loyalty she has demonstrated to the PSD leader.

The PM and justice minister's resistance to PSD's pressures to adopt the new emergency ordinances on justice could be connected to the warnings issued by the European Commission last week, through first vice president Frans Timmermans and justice commissioner Vera Jourova. They urged the Romanian Government not to pass any measure that would weaken the rule of law and fight against corruption in the country or face sanctions.