Romania’s highest court has ruled that changes to the country’s penal code are unconstitutional. Specifically, the court’s nine judges unanimously rejected about 60 amendments that have already come under fire from the European Commission in Brussels and Romanian president Klaus Iohannis.
Critics argue that some of the changes will allow Social Democratic Party leader, Liviu Dragnea, to ask for a “review” of a two-year jail sentence he received in 2016 for electoral fraud. Critics are also concerned the amendments will help Dragnea to evade persecution in another two cases.
As reported by FRANCE 24, the EU Commission’s vice president, Frans Timmermans, has repeatedly expressed his “concern” about some of the changes and asked clarification from Prime Minister Viorica Dăncilă in a letter sent earlier this month.
“The commission is closely analysing the conformity of these legislative amendments with EU law, in particular as regards Romania’s obligations to protect the financial interests of the EU and to comply with the EU criminal law,” Timmermans wrote in the letter, a copy of which was seen by AFP.
