Ombudsman's notification rejected, on enforcement, interpretation of law and regulation rationale

The Constitutional Court of Romania (RCC) specifies that on Thursday it rejected as inadmissible the Ombudsman's notification regarding the article prohibiting convicted persons from being members of the Government, as the reasons invoked consist of both problems of enforcement and interpretation of the law, as well as regulatory issues. 

"Following the deliberations, the Constitutional Court, by a majority of votes, dismissed as inadmissible the exception of unconstitutionality drawn up. In adopting this solution, the Court found that, in effect, the grounds referred to in the notification consist of both problems of enforcement and interpretation of the law by the competent public authorities, as well as the legislative issues that come within Parliament's competence, " reads a press release of CCR sent to AGERPRES. 

The plenary of the Constitutional Court debated on Thursday the exception of unconstitutionality of the provisions of Art. 2 of Law no. 90 / 2001 on the organisation and functioning of the Romanian Government and of the ministries, amended and completed, issued directly by the Ombudsman. 

The criticized provisions have the following content: "Can be members of the Government people who have Romanian citizenship and domicile in the country, who benefit from the exercise of electoral rights, who have not suffered criminal convictions and are not found in one of the incompatibility cases provided for in Book I, Title IV of Law No. 161/2003 regarding certain measures for ensuring transparency in the exercise of public dignities, public positions and the business environment, the prevention and sanctioning of corruption, with subsequent amendments and completions." 

The decision is final and generally binding and to be communicated to the Ombudsman. 

The arguments retained in motivating the solutions ruled by the CCR plenary sitting will be presented in the decisions' content, which will be released in the Official Journal of Romania, Part I. 

The CCR has postponed the ruling in this case several times. 

"More study is required. Several solutions have been advanced (...), none of them assembling a decision-making majority (...). It is the hardest solution I have ever had to give so far, because the problems are mostly related to political appreciation," Valer Dorneanu, the CCR president, declared in March. 

On January 5, the Ombudsman announced that he had filed a notice with the CCR, for the exception of unconstitutionality in relation to the provisions of Article 2 of Law 90/2001, on the organisation and functioning of the Government and of the Ministries, according to which can be members of the Executive people who have not undergone criminal convictions and are not found to be incompatible. 

According to the Ombudsman, "the provisions of Article 2 of Law 90/2001 violate the principle of the balance of powers in the state, they do not meet the constitutional requirements of predictability and proportionality of the law and do not allow for the recognition of the right to difference for occupying, on an equal basis and without unreasonable restrictions, of a function involving the exercise of the state authority."