Romanian Parliament resumes activity after summer break

The Romanian Parliament has resumed its activity following the summer break.

Among the legislative priorities on the agenda are several drafts expected from the Government, such as amendments to the pensions law, the package of Justice laws and laws on the set up of the Sovereign Fund of Investments.

In the first day of the session, the two Chambers will gather in separate meetings to choose the members of the permanent offices (the vice-presidents, secretaries and quaestors) at the proposal of Parliamentary groups, according to the political algorithm.

The president of the Senate, Calin Popescu-Tariceanu called the permanent office for this Friday at 11 AM and from 11:30 AM all the Parliament groups will each have a meeting. The office of the Chamber of Deputies was called at 10:30 AM. The meetings in plenum will take place from 12:00.

During this meeting, the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies have to decide both on the remaining drafts from the previous meetings, on some legislative initiatives of Parliament and on some projects and ordinances from the Government.

Senators will focus on some drafts bills that were not finished during the last meeting, such as the local public administration draft 215/2001, initiated by PSD, the draft initiated by UDMR stating that March 15 is the holiday of the Hungarian community in Romania, approving the free day for Hungarian employees to celebrate it, the finalization of initiative regarding the redefinition of the family in the Constitution, which was adopted by the Chamber of Deputies. The draft will be debated in the autumn and Tariceanu estimated in May that the referendum for this law revision would be organized also in autumn.

Although the procedure of choosing two representatives of the civil community in the Supreme Court of Magistracy started in November 2016 and was resumed on March 13, the Senate didn’t decide yet on the appointment of the two persons, so that the Senate has to take a decision this session.

Also, the Chamber of Deputies has to debate in this session several drafts, the most controversial being the draft for the amnesty of some punishments and some corrective measures of freedom deprivation, adopted quietly by the Senate. There is also the lobby draft law and at the legal Commission of Deputies Chamber there are several drafts on this topic.

The Senate adopted several drafts bill that the Deputies Chamber will debate, such as the draft of the ceiling increase of VAT exemption, the elimination of some commissions for bank accounts and the expansion of the stores obligation to accept card payments.