Liberals kick off procedure to dismiss Ombudsman

The leader of the Liberal deputies, Raluca Turcan, has announced on Friday that the National Liberal Party will start procedures of recalling Victor Ciorbea from the Ombudsman position. PNL is accusing Ciorbea of breaking the Constitution.

“PNL will start the recall of the Ombudsman position, over breaking the Constitution and the laws. The Ombudsman’s recall is made by the joint plenary session of the Chamber of Deputies and Senate, upon the proposal of the joint special committees,” said Turcan.

The Liberals are accusing Victor Ciorbea he hadn’t delegated his duties during his vacation.

„Before leaving on holiday paid with a lot of money from the Romanians’ pockets, Victor Ciorbea had the obligation of delegating his powers to his deputy specialised on judiciary, army, penitentiaries and police. He is a deputy who could have refer the emergency ordinance on the justice laws to the Constitutional Court, as it is obviously unconstitutional,” Turcan argued.

Ombudsman Victor Ciorbea, the only one who can challenge the Emergency Ordinance promoted by Justice Minister, Tudorel Toader, to the Constitutional Court, has left on vacation as of this Wednesday.

The Ombudsman has announced though that he has delegated the authority to one of his deputies, except that the power to notify the Constitutional Court is ruled out. On Thursday evening, Ombudsman Victor Ciorbea has sent a release on the temporary delegation of authority to one of his deputies, informing that some of his powers have been delegated.

The delegation of authority does not include: the notification of the Constitutional Court on unconstitutionality issues, the hiring of new employees and others.

Representatives of the USR and PNL , as well as the Prosecutor General of Romania had sent a letter to  the Ombudsman asking him to refer to the Constitutional Court the emergency ordinance issued on Tuesday for the laws of justice.

USR lawmakers even went to the headquarters of the institution on Wednesday and filed a petition requesting that the Toader ordinance is appealed to the Constitutional Court.

However, USR chairman Dan Barna admitted that the Ombudsman’s recall from office is very difficult. „There are very few tools. It seems that the Ombudsman is hard to dismiss than the Romanian President”, Barna stated.

The Government adopted Monday morning the GEO to amend and supplement some normative acts regarding the laws of justice.

At the same time, also on Monday the Senate adopted a draft bill to amend the law on Ombudsman organization, providing that the institution’s leadership will receive special pensions, cumulated with the indemnity for the current mandate.

On Monday, Victor Ciorbea said the Senate’s decision is justified by the fact that the institution’s leadership is under huge pressure and is overwhelmed by the volume of work. His earnings are estimated to reach about EUR 7,500 per month.

Analysts have said this is the means to make the Ombudsman very reluctant when challenging drafts filed by the political power and that Victor Ciorbea will thus not challenge the Emergency Ordinance to the CCR.