In objection to court, PSD calls removing Ombudswoman Weber from office unconstitutional

Parliament Decision 36/2021 for the removal from office of Ombudswoman Renate Weber is unconstitutional as it violates the provisions regarding the principle of legality and the five-year office tenure, reads a constitutionality objection filed by the opposition Social Democratic Party (PSD) with the Constitutional Court (CCR).

According to the document, the decision of Parliament would violate the provisions of Article 1(5) regarding the principle of legality and Article 5 (1) in the Constitution regarding the ombudsman's 5-year term of office.

"Contrary to the guarantees of independence for the Ombudsman as underlined by the jurisprudence of the Constitutional Court and provided by European standards, the Romanian Parliament passed a decision to remove the ombudsman from office in violation of the Constitution, the independence standards in Article 9 (2) of Law 35/1997 on the organisation and operation of the Ombudsman's Office, as explained in the jurisprudence of the Constitutional Court, because removal from office was used as a discretionary, political check mechanism, and not as a legality check on the ombudsman," reads the objection.

The objectors say that they do not question the right of Parliament to assess the activity of the ombudsman, but "the constitutionality of this assessment in the sense that the assessment was not an objective one, did not follow the constitutional and legal framework and was not based on demonstrable cumulative violations of the Constitution or other laws."

Parliament failed to meet the two cumulative conditions, an objective evaluation of the ombudsman's activity was not carried out along clear reasons for removal, objective reasons designed to guarantee the independence of the Ombudsman's Office and did not prove any violation of the Constitution or other laws of the country.

The objectors also rejected the reasons for Ombudswoman Weber's dismissal that she had not sent Parliament a special report on the Caracal crimes, that the legal proceedings in that case had not been completed, arguing that the law did not establish any obligation on the Ombudsman's Office to draw up special reports and recommendations.

At a joint plenary sitting on Wednesday, Parliament passed, 247 to 32 and one abstention, a draft decision regarding the removal from office of Ombudsman Renate Weber.