Senator Corlatean: PACE's Monitoring Committee initiates investigation against Romania for changing election law

The Monitoring Committee of the Member States of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, upon The Social Democratic Party's (PSD) request, approved the activation of the procedure to investigate the observation of the democratic norms by Romania, referring to the Orban Government's decision to assume responsibility for the modification of the law on the local elections four months before the vote, Social Democrat Senator Titus Corlatean announced on Thursday.

He stated that in the next 10 to 12 days, the plenary sitting of PACE will discuss in Strasbourg the possibility of notifying the Venice Commission.

"In Paris, at the meeting of the Monitoring Committee of the Member States of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, we discussed, (...), the serious situation and this abuse of power that the Orban PNL Government commits in Romania by modifying the election law regarding the local elections just four months before the elections. I presented the serious situation and I said very clearly that this decision very seriously violates a recognized and widely respected recommendation of the Venice Commission at European level that says you cannot change the election law one year before the elections and especially any power in a European state is not allowed to create an electoral advantage by modifying the rules, especially in such a short time," Corlatean, who is a member of Romania's delegation to PACE, told AGERPRES.

He informed that the PSD requests have been approved. "First, we asked for the activation of the investigation procedure of the Monitoring Committee, related to the observance of the democratic norms. The Committee unanimously adopted (...) the activation of the procedure against Romania. (...) and the second thing that we requested and was approved in principle to become official in the next 10-12 days in Strasbourg (...) was related to the notification of the Venice Commission by the Monitoring Committee of the Member States in relation to this case (...)," Corlatean said.

Prime Minister Ludovic Orban announced on Thursday that the Government would assume responsibility for the election of mayors in two rounds.