Interim Speaker Simonis: We should have internal security service in the Chamber of Deputies

Interim Speaker Simonis: We should have internal security service in the Chamber of Deputies

Chamber of Deputies interim Speaker Alfred Simonis on Tuesday evening called for the establishment of an internal security service in Parliament, after the debate on next year's budget in the plenary of the legislature was marked by booing, aggressive exchange of lines and the display of placards during interventions from the platform.

"It is another shameful evening for the Romanian Parliament, perhaps the most shameful," Simonis said after the meeting of the plenary session, which he described as unprecedented. "It's really embarrassing what happened," he stressed.

In this regard, the interim speaker of the Chamber of Deputies spoke about a possible security service in Parliament.

"We will try to tighten the rules as much as we can. From my point of view, we should, although it can't be done overnight, have an internal Chamber of Deputies security service to intervene. The Internal Affairs Directorate has some agents of this type, but they need to be better trained, more specialised and have a special status. But I believe that we should take the practices of other parliaments and that those who behave like hooligans should be banned from entering the Parliament building, on condition that they are issued a link to be able to exercise their mandate as parliamentarians. They can participate online, intervene online, vote online, so we are not hindering the exercise of the mandate, but neither can we end up pulling each other's ear or fighting in the Parliament's plenary session, because, in my opinion, we are one step away from that," said Alfred Simonis.

According to him, complaints will be made and all MPs who behaved inappropriately in the plenary of the Legislature on Tuesday will be sanctioned.

On Tuesday evening, MPs from the Alliance for Romanians' Union (AUR) and the Save Romania Union (USR) protested in the Parliament's joint plenary meeting where the draft state budget for 2024 was debated, during the speech of Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu.

The prime minister hardly delivered his speech. During his speech, Ciolacu turned several times towards the presidency, but the protests around the rostrum continued.

USR MPs displayed yellow and red cardboard cubes with messages such as "New taxes," "Record budget for specials."

AUR leader George Simion, who was broadcasting live on his social media page, said he would not leave until teachers' salaries were increased.

Earlier, MP George Simion and Senator Diana Sosoaca had a conflict in the Chamber of Deputies, during which they repeatedly insulted each other.