Save Romanian Union (USR), the second opposition party in the Parliament, accuses the ruling power MPs they have discussed with the visiting delegation of the Venice Commission behind closed doors and the opposition parties had no access to that meeting.
USR deputy Stelian Ion said the sitting of the lower chamber’s legal committee on Tuesday had been postponed so that the committee chairman Eugen Nicolicea (PSD) could discuss with the Venice Commission representatives. “We haven’t been invited to the debates, no representative of the opposition wasn’t able to attend the meeting, just like in previous cases when the representatives of the Venice Commission came to Romania,” Stelian Ion said, adding that discussions could have tackled the justice laws and the criminal codes amendments.
No meeting of the Romanian MPs with the representatives of the Venice Commission is announced on the Chamber of Deputies website.
In retort, PSD senator Serban Nicolae said the discussions with the Venice Commission members were about a draft law that he had tabled together with deputy Liviu Plesoianu regarding the NGOs financing, and not about the justice laws.
Nicolae added that the representatives of the Venice Commission, two members from Iceland and one from UK, had met the NGOs on Monday.
He explained the Venice Commission representatives wanted to find out if the draft law on the NGOs will impact on the civil society, if it imposes restrictions or pressures.
In his turn, the chairman of the legal committee, PSD deputy Eugen Nicolicea said that an USR representative attended the meeting on the NGO financing, namely senator Adrian Weiner.
The Parliament has passed the justice laws, but some provisions from two laws have been declared unconstitutional. The third law, the one on the Superior Council of Magistracy is still under the constitutional judges’ debate, with a verdict expected on February 13.