RO ruling coalition moves to replace Ombudsman earlier than planned

The Chamber of Deputies and the Senate in Romania passed, in joint sitting convened on Wednesday, June 17, a decision for the revocation of Renate Weber from the position of Ombudsman, News.ro reported.

The day before, Weber stated that her work could not be judged by lawmakers -in relation to the Ombudsman Office Reports rejected in Parliament.

Junior ruling partner UDMR is supposed to come up with a candidate for the position, according to an agreement reached between the members of the ruling coalition.

Social Democrat (PSD) Senator Robert Cazanciuc claimed that the reasons invoked by the ruling coalition headed by the Liberals (PNL) are "hallucinating".

Instead, Liberal deputy Ioan Cupsa, not surprisingly, argued that the request is "well-founded" and recommended the lawmakers support the replacement.

The leader of the radical party AUR, senators Claudiu Tarziu, stated that the coalition parties "want Renate Weber's head" because she opposed the wrong measures taken during the pandemic. He added that, from this point of view, there is no difference between PSD and PNL.

Regarding the real reasons for Weber's replacement, which became a matter of time after last fall's elections, they are many.

The biggest of them is that she pointed to the technical challenges the Liberal Government must surpass if it wants to achieve the electoral promises (such as eliminating the "special pensions").

The activation of a special monitoring mechanism for the Romanian hospitals during the sanitary crisis, invoking international human rights treaties, was the most striking, and it was mentioned by the Liberals in the dismissal request.

(Photo: George Calin/ Inquam Photos)