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Deputy Prime Minister and USR PLUS Co-Chairman Dan Barna said today that the ruling coalition is currently in a deadlock over the abolition of the Section for the Investigation of Judicial Crimes (SIIJ), mentioning that the Justice Minister presented several options, but none was accepted because the Hungarian Democratic Union of Romania (UDMR) basically doesn't want the section to be axed, and the National Liberal Party has a neutral position, agerpres.ro confirms.
"The subject has obviously been on the public agenda for some time now, it all depends on the point of view of the UDMR coalition partners who do not support the variant approved by the government, the simple variant whereby the SIIJ is abolished and all the powers and responsibilities are assigned to prosecution agencies, the National Anti-corruption Directorate - DNA, the General Prosecutor's Office or the Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism - DIICOT. Our UDMR partners practically don't want the SIIJ abolished, their position is that we should disband the current SIIJ and move it, still as a special section for magistrates, to the General Prosecutor's Office, that is just change the nameplate on the door and the postal address. (...) We want things rolled back to the initial status - exactly as both the Venice Commission and the European Commission say - with responsibilities assigned according to competencies: for corruption crimes - to the DNA as competent body, for organized crime - to the DIICOT, for common crimes - to the Prosecutor's Office, as everywhere in the world, so that there is no longer a special section for magistrates; this is what it's all about, not about how to place a special section for magistrates under wraps," Barna told public broadcaster TVR1.
The Deputy Prime Minister said that he is outraged by this situation, but that USR PLUS will carry on also "because a part of Romania has decided that the formation should be in this government and fight for these reforms".
