PNL's Orban: We are ready to adopt any form of protest to stop attacks against justice

The PNL (National Liberal Party) President, Ludovic Orban, urged the citizens on Sunday to stand out and protest peacefully to show the government that it must take into account "what the overwhelming majority of the society desires."

"We are willing to resort to all forms of legal, constitutional protests (...) in order to prevent attacks against the independence of the judiciary, against the rule of law state, against the basic rights and freedoms of the citizens ... I ask all my colleagues and all of our sympathizers to take action, and all Romanian citizens who care about Romania. Passivity today is a form of complicity (...) We must go out on the street to show peacefully to this government that, although it enjoys a majority they obtained by making false promises, (...) they still must take into account what the overwhelming majority of the society wants," Orban said at a press conference held together with USR (Save Romania Union) leader Dan Barna and the former Premier, Dacian Ciolos. 

In his opinion, Romania has reached now "a critical point". "What happens in Parliament right now is not a simple process of bringing amendments to the laws of justice. For a year, we are witnessing in Parliament a systematic attack against the Romanians' fundamental rights and freedoms (...) against the independence of justice. Slowly, PSD (Social Democratic Party) confiscates the Romanian state," said Orban. 

USR leader Dan Barna said that the ruling majority is acting as a "law firm" of PSD head Liviu Dragnea. 

"It has been one year since all that this parliamentary majority does (...) is to destroy Romania and behave (...) like a law firm of Mr. Liviu Dragnea. In this context, the society has a major duty to to react," Barna said. 

The press conference was also attended by representatives of several NGOs and civic associations. According to Mihai Politeanu, founding member of Romania Initiative, the conference was triggered by the "total assault" of the PSD-ALDE (Alliance of Democratic Liberals) coalition against independent institutions and the rule of law state. 

He asked for the rejection of the draft project on modification of the justice laws, the draft project on modification of the ANI law and the immediate resignation of the presidents of the two Chambers of Parliament, Liviu Dragnea and Calin Popescu-Tariceanu. 

"Our signal is very clear: 'They with the thieves, us together' (...) We will go to the Victoria Square after this conference," said Politeanu. 

Among the participants in the conference were the PNL First Vicepresident Raluca Turcan and former Justice Minister Raluca Pruna.