Chamber of Deputies adopts amendment to referendum law, paving way for mass poll on same-sex marriages

The Chamber of Deputies has adopted an amendment to the referendum law, paving the way to approve the project to change the definition of family. 

According to the amendment to the referendum law, the mass poll must be held within 30 days from the adoption of the project to amend the constitution. The legal commission of the Chamber of Deputies gave on Monday a favourable opinion of the project and made technical amendments they also addressed on Tuesday morning, after the plenum decided to resend the project to the commission to eliminate the a provision deemed redundant. The plenum voted on the amendment on the same day.

PSD chairman and Chamber of Deputies speaker stated on Tuesday that the decision on redefining the family must be taken by Romanians, not by anyone else, and said he hopes the Romanian president will not delay procedures. Asked whether he is concerned that Romania will reverse progress towards equality by holding this referendum, Dragnea said: “I am interested to give a very strong signal inside the country, because I am still a Romanian, will remain Romanian […] this decision should be taken by Romanians, not by anybody else.”