Romanian MPs drop controversial amendments to draft pardon bill following street protests

Hours after close to 2,000 people protested near the government building in Victoriei Square and in several big cities across Romania, MPs voted to turn down controversial amendments to the draft pardon bill that they voted on Wednesday.

The senators voted in the Judicial Committee to remove the bribery and influence peddling for the list of charges for which the pardon would apply.

There were five votes to remove the amendments and four abstentions. The draft bill will have to be voted by the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies and the approved version will then be submitted to president Klaus Iohannis.

PM Sorin Grindeanu said on Wednesday in a Facebook post that the government does not back the amended version of the draft bill.

In addition, the head of the Social Democratic Party (PSD), Liviu Dragnea, took to Facebook to say he disapproves the amendments and that he doesn’t want people jailed for corruption to be pardoned. Some of the proposed amendments were made by MPs from Dragnea’s party.

The new initiative of MPs came less than two months after the Parliament voted to repeal a controversial government ordinance that would partially decriminalize the abuse in office. The vote came after weeks of massive protests and calls from international political leaders in the European Union and the United States of America.