ALDE's Tariceanu: If Orban refuses to come to Parliament, we are going to notify CCR

ALDE (Alliance of Liberals and Democrats) leader Calin Popescu-Tariceanu said, if the Prime Minister refuses to come to Parliament, then there is an inter-institutional conflict going on and a challenge will be filed with the Constitutional Court of Romania (CCR).

"This is a gesture that I do not understand, for several reasons. First of all, I should tell you that Parliament does work. Not as smoothly, of course, things were more complicated, as we had to use technical communication means to hold our sessions on online platforms. Today, for instance, we've made an exercise and voted by using our tablets at the Senate, which means that Parliament did work. Also, as you know, several MPs, either Senators or members of the Chamber of Deputies, already came in person yesterday and there will probably be more of them next week, after we all were able to discover that this formula based on remote communication, even when using state-of-the-art equipment, it's not the best suitable for Parliament, which is an institution that hosts democratic debates, and direct visual contact proved to be necessary, in the end," Tariceanu told Antena 3 private television broadcaster on Friday.

He mentioned that, according to the Constitution, the PM has the obligation, every time when he is invited by Parliament, to come and present his viewpoint on the respective matter in relation to which the Parliament invited him in the first place. Moreover, Tariceanu brought to mind that Decision No. 4/2020 that extended the state of emergency provides that the head of the Executive must present the measures taken to combat the epidemic to Parliament every 7 days.

"I notified the Standing Bureau of the Senate, which further notified the Standing Bureaus of the two Chambers, which decided yesterday to send a letter to the PM to invite him to Parliament," added Tariceanu.

"So the problem with how the Parliament organises its activity is the Parliament's problem and not the PM's! The PM only has this obligation: to come to Parliament and present the report that the Parliament asked from him. (...) If he refuses to do so, for various reasons, then we have an inter-institutional conflict, a constitutional conflict and we will go to the Constitutional Court," said Tariceanu.

PM Ludovic Orban on Friday stated that he will go to Parliament when the Parliament resumes its activity if he is invited.