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Romanian court clears way for Băsescu return

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Published 21 August 2012, updated 22 August 2012
4 comments
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Romania, Romanian elections, Traian Besescu, Victor Ponta

Romania's Constitutional Court ruled today (21 August) that the referendum held last month to remove President Traian Băsescu is invalid because turnout fell short of the required 50% threshold. Veteran politician Băsescu is now cleared to return in office, risking further confrontation with Prime Minister Victor Ponta’s government.

An impeachment referendum held on 29 July yielded an 88% majority in favour of removing the centre-right Băsescu, but the turnout fell short of the 50% required - only 46% of registered voters cast a ballot during the referendum.

Ponta's  Social Liberal Union (USL) had pressured the Constitutional Court to rule that the electoral lists had not been updated and that the turnout requirement had been met. The judges ruled, by a 6-3 margin, that the referendum was invalid.

Asked if Băsescu should now return to office, Chief Judge Augustin Zegrean said "Yes".

Ponta , whose USL controls the parliament, said he would respect the court ruling.

But the cohabitation between the centre-right president and USL could yield further tensions ahead of the November parliamentary election, which is likely to be won by the USL coalition. Băsescu has the power to appoint prime ministers.

The country needs to focus on austerity policies to keep a €5-billion International Monetary Fund stand-by agreement on track, Reuters reported.

Analysts said the battle between Ponta and Băsescu reflects a wider struggle for power and the justice system in the country hobbled by corruption and 19 members of the USL parliamentary coalition are under investigation.

The centre-right European People’s Party in the European Parliament called on the Romanian authorities to respect the Constitutional Court’s decision.

“The Romanian people need responsible political leadership that focuses on the reform and development of their country and not on the personal political agendas of socialist and liberal leaders,” stated Joseph Daul, leader of the EPP group.

Crin Antonescu, who heads the Romanian liberal party PNL and is part of the governing coalition, held the post of interim president pending the decision of the Constitutional Court, and should now resign.

But Antonescu made statements that sounded at the least confusing.

“For us Traian Băsescu is no longer a president. He is the president of Romania in the legal sense. But the decision of the Constitutional Court has been unfair,” Antonescu said. 

Positions: 

The Romania Social Democrat party PSD said in a statement that the USL coalition would respect the decision of the Constitutional court. But it adds that “even if he returns to Cotroceni [the presidential palace], Băsescu will be a defeated president, and nobody would take him into account!.

“We are determined to continue what we have begun.  Romanians have given the signal that change is happening – we are heading toward a Romania without Băsescu, and we are getting there with accelerated pace.

“Our plan is clear: (1) We continue the fight with Traian Băsescu and what he and [his party] PDL represent, and (2) We continue to govern.

“In the next months, over the November battle [the parliamentary elections] we need majority, so that changes would be solid!”

Hannes Swoboda, President of the S&D Group in the European Parliament, also commented on the Court's decision:
 
"The Romanian Constitutional Court today put an end to a debate that has hurt Romania. We respect the Court's decision and urge all parties and players to do the same. The debate reached a level that was no longer acceptable and inappropriate comments about a 'coup d'état' must now, finally, stop."
 
"The result of the referendum demonstrated a strong sentiment from a large part of the Romanian electorate. But we have always emphasised that the legal provisions cannot be changed afterwards. In this referendum, the key legal provision was not met for it to take effect. Everybody must respect this," Swoboda continued.
 
"All sides need to set differences aside and get back to work. The parliamentary elections in November will be the appropriate opportunity to send a clear and strong signal about the future Romanians want for their country," he added.

The European Commission said in a statement that it takes note of the decision and considers that it will now be of utmost importance for all political actors to comply with the decision of the Constitutional Court.

"Accordingly, the legal procedure to reinstate President Basescu should be respected. The European Commission expects the Romanian authorities to abide by the rule of law and the decisions of the Constitutional Court."

"The European Commission calls on all political forces to respect European values, to act with responsibility and to work constructively in overcoming divisions, in Romania's best interests. Respect for the rule of law and independence of the judiciary are essential for restoring political stability and economic confidence in Romania," the statement said.

"The European Commission will continue to monitor the situation very closely. It will adopt a further report under the cooperation and verification mechanism before the end of the year," the Commission said.

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COMMENTS

  • Nobody comments on Basescu's threat and intimidation of the Romanian people to vote? In a country that is still recovering from a dictatorship, Basescu is using dictatorial practices to rule the country. The quorum of 50%+1 of registered voters is not practiced anywhere else in the EU except Lithuania, yet it was supported by the EU in Romania. There was no way the quorum would have been met in a country who is just learning democracy. Basescu intimidated the electorate by accusing USL of fraud before the elections and threatening the people who initiated the impeachment publicly. The retards who lead EU have no idea about what is really going on in Romania (or anywhere else in Europe for that matter) and supported a DICTATOR who they themselves will work hard along with NATO to remove later on as they always do around the world. Well done EU!

    By :
    Gabe
    - Posted on :
    22/08/2012

  • Basescu does not represent the Romanian people.
    The Constitutional Court which is a political and not a juridical institution chose to ignore the reality that the quorum was in fact met. There are 3 million of people added artificially to the quorum by Basescu regime to keep him in place.

    In 1992 there were 16 mil Romanians voters and now in 2012 there are 18.2 mil while there was a massive exodus, fact acknowledged by the Court itself and the European countries which officially struggle with the Romanian migration.
    90% of the people voted against him and saw their vote mocked.
    Most Romanian institutions are infiltrated by the 8 year long Basescu regime. The prosecutors are abusing people that vote investigating every and each one of the 8.5 milion voters.

    Do you call this democracy? I call it dictatorship!

    Basescu was backed by US and European leaders due to the fact that he forced Romanians to accept a 20 bln Euro loan from which the country did not see one penny, the loan being used to finance international banks.
    The corruption of his backers is legendary while the people are forced to live in poverty. Salaries were cut with 25-40% and pensions reduced, hospitals and schools closed, etc.

    Basescu is his party are not center-right as presented by the msm. He is a former communist and his party was socialist until 2002. USL is present as left wing while being formed by a coalition between Liberals, Conservatives and Socialists...

    Expect massive protests and further development.

    By :
    zoom
    - Posted on :
    22/08/2012

  • Romania has approximately 18 million voters. In 2009 presidential elections 10 million people voted (54% of all voters). Basecu won by receiving 50.33% of the vote (approx. 5 million). He won by only 70000 votes.

    In the 2012 referendum vote, 8.5 million people voted (46% of all voters) and 7.5 million voted against the president.

    In 2009 5 million voted for Basescu.
    In 2012 7.5 million voted against Basescu.

    The fact that the referendum required at least 50 percent of registered voters for the act to be valid is totally undemocratic.

    When the voting percentage in the previous presidential election was only 54%, the 50% voter requirement for the referendum is automatically in favor of Basescu because he also got the support of those who wouldn't have gone voting anyway (roughly 45% if you use the 2009 presidential election as a reference).

    In addition to the non-voters who didn't care either way, all Basescu needed was to stop an addtional 5% of the voters to boycott the referendum and it would be invalid.

    In a democracy, how can the president tell people not to vote?
    In a democracy, how can something be decided by not voting?
    In a democracy, how can the other side be given a 45% lead in a vote?

    There has never been a vote where there is 100% voter participation. People don't go to vote mostly because they don't care. Then there are those who don't go to vote because the really want to boycott. But the actual result is decided by those who VOTE.

    I cannot understand why the foreign leaders and press ignore this fact. What happened was not democratic.

    By :
    Anonymous
    - Posted on :
    23/08/2012

  • So, Ponta is ready to fight against Basescu, instead of working for the Romanian people. Antonescu, Ponta & comp. divided the country, lost a lot of time in order to accomplish the single idea they have: "out Basescu". They really don't realize what they should do!

    By :
    P. Cornelia
    - Posted on :
    24/08/2012

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Basescu-Traian-
Băsescu: Should return to office
Background: 

The European Commission expressed concern about the ongoing political infighting in Romania in its most recent progress report on judicial reform and the fight against corruption in Romania. 

The 18 July report questions the country’s ability to comply with the EU’s fundamental principles and the sustainability and irreversibility of reform.

Commission President José Manuel Barroso said that recent events in Romania had “shaken EU’s trust”.

Barroso had met with Prime Minister Victor Ponta the previous week and presented him with a 11-point to-do list aimed at restoring the status quo following what critics said was an attempted coup d’état and an assault on democratic values.

Ponta reportedly committed to following Brussels’ advice.

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