Chairman of the National Liberal Party (PNL) Ludovic Orban stated on Tuesday that the Liberal deputies will vote against the amendments brought to the Criminal Codes.
"We really see the PSD's [the Social Democratic Party] action to quickly move ahead with the new amendments to the Criminal Code and the Criminal Procedure Code as an unacceptable defiance, taking into account that the Venice Commission delegation comes to Romania and it is very clear that the standpoints expressed by the plenary meeting of the Venice Commission represent a starting point for the standpoints adopted by the European Commission, the positions at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and, also, of the Group of States Against Corruption. The defiance of the experts delegation of the Venice Commission shows very clearly that the PSD - ALDE [the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats] doesn't observe and has no intention to observe any recommendation of the Venice Commission and no recommendation of the CVM [the Co-operation and Verification Mechanism], a thing that seriously jeopardizes Romania's position at European level, risking the start of a sanctioning procedure against Romania because of the systematic defiance and the permanent aggression of the majority coalition against the independence of Justice. (...) We won't vote. We will vote against it. We are already prepared to challenge with the CCR [the Constitutional Court of Romania] the amendments brought to the Criminal Code, as well as the amendments brought to the Criminal Procedure Code," Orban stated at the end of the meeting of the PNL's Executive Bureau.
When asked what provisions would the PNL challenge with the CCR in the context in which the amendments were aimed at removing the articles ruled as unconstitutional, he responded that in any moment a new amendment might emerge that can affect the entirety of the Criminal Codes.
AGERPRES