President Iohannis refers 2019 national budget bill to court

President Klaus Iohannis on Friday filed with the Constitutional Court of Romania (CCR) a constitutionality objection over the 2019 national budget bill, the Presidential Administration reported. 

"By its passage and normative contents, the aforementioned bill violates Article 1(5), Article 11(1) and (2), Article 47, Article 50, Article 120 (1), 135 (2) (f) and 148 (2) and (4) of the Constitution," Iohanni said in his court filing, mentioning that Parliament had forwarded the bill to him for promulgation on February 20. 

"There are, unfortunately, unconstitutionality aspects in this budget as well. The budget of national disgrace not only endangers the Romanian economy, but also it also contains clear unconstitutionality aspects. Romania's obligations towards the European Union, where it belongs, are not met; it violates some fundamental rights; the role of the Fiscal Council has been ignored, while the principle of decentralisation and the principle of subsidiarity are undermined. For all of this, I will refer today to the CCR the 2019 national budget, the budget of the national disgrace," Iohannis told journalists at the Cotroceni Presidential Palace. 

He specified that he would also refer to the CCR a law on the approval of the ceilings of some indicators specified in the 2019 fiscal and budgetary framework.