Romania’s public administration must get out of the current “state of paralysis”, according to Social Democratic (PSD) leader and Chamber of Deputies president Liviu Dragnea. He thinks its inadmissible that a mayor who knows he doesn’t break any law can’t be relaxed because he doesn’t know what he is allowed to do and what he isn’t allowed to do.

“For years, people have been talking about mayors, politicians, ministers who hold various positions and who supposedly do and undo things. It’s of utmost importance to have a clear legislation. Each of you wants to know a simple thing: what he is allowed to do and what not. Because its inadmissible that a mayor, minister, or anyone who runs a public institution and knows he doesn’t break any law can’t rest easy. You won’t find this in any other country,” Liviu Dragnea told the mayors on Monday morning at the general meeting of the Romanian Communes’ Association, according to Agerpres.

He thinks that the current situation doesn’t help Romania’s development and the rule of law. Dragnea and his Social Democratic Party (PSD) have promised to make a clearer legislation that defines the status of public administration officials. Deputy prime minister Sevil Shaiddeh, who is in charge of regional development, public administration and EU funds, has already started working on the new legislation.

“This is where we need to get: no invented guilt, no presumed guilt, everything must be very clear,” Dragnea told the mayors.

He also said that the new legislation must make a clear distinction between legality and opportunity and that the Parliament will go ahead with this law, regardless of the pressures against it.

“Too many institutions express their opinions on opportunity: why did you make that road instead of the other one? Everyone must understand that the public administration in Romania must get out of this state of paralysis. Clerks who are afraid to sign anything, mayors who don’t know if what they do today won’t be reinterpreted over one or ten years, business people who are afraid to talk to any mayor or public official in Romania. And I’m talking about Romanian business people, because the other ones don’t have any problem,” Liviu Dragnea concluded.

The Social Democratic Party’s leaders have been saying in recent months that the legislation in Romania must be simplified and clarified and that the balance between state powers must be restored. The Social Democrats and their allies from the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats (ALDE), who have a wide support among public administration and local administration workers, are unhappy that the anticorruption prosecutors have investigated many public officials in recent years over corruption allegations.

One of the first measures adopted by the PSD-ALDE Government led by Sorin Grindeanu was to pass an emergency ordinance (OUG 13), which partly decriminalized abuse of office and other corruption offences such as conflict of interests. One of the most controversial provisions in the ordinance was that abuse of office would no longer be a criminal offence if the damage was under RON 200,000.

The ordinance was adopted in a late cabinet meeting on January 31 and generated many negative reactions from President Klaus Iohannis, and local justice officials, who saw this ordinance as an invitation to theft for public administration officials. Local NGOs, business associations, and embassies also spoke against the ordinance, and the European Commission issued a powerful warning that the Romanian Government should rethink its decision. The ordinance also sparked the biggest street protests that the country has seen in the last 25 years. The Government repealed the ordinance on February 5 by issuing another ordinance (OUG 14). Both OUG 13 and OUG 14 are currently under debate in the Parliament.

Romanian Senate president: Everybody in Romania is gargling with corruption

editor@romania-insider.com