Romanian Senate rejects controversial ordinance after heated debate

Romania’s Senate rejected yesterday the Government’s emergency ordinance no.13, issued at the end of January, which tried to amend the criminal laws and decriminalize some corruption deeds. The bill had already been repealed by the Government, but several experts said that it was necessary to also have the ordinance rejected in the Parliament. Otherwise it could have produced effects in exceptional cases. PSD president Liviu Dragnea supported the idea to reject the bill in the Parliament, but his coalition partner, ALDE president Calin Popescu-Tăriceanu, who is also the Senate president, disagreed with the process. He refused to preside the Senate meeting in which the bill was discussed. Tariceanu said that this was “an absolute premiere”, which damaged the institution. He also said that adopting a law to reject a bill that had already been repealed was “inexplicable” to him. As the Senate rejected the bill, the project could be discussed in the Chamber of Deputies today. Tariceanu also said that this is a “power struggle between those who have been voted for democratically” and “occult political forces”, which have “no legitimacy”, but want to keep their power. Romanian Senate president: Everybody in Romania is gargling with corruption editor@romania-insider.com