Romanian court rules decree that sparked protests is constitutional

The Romanian constitutional court has ruled that the decree that set off a wave of protests all over the country is legal.

The magistrates of the constitutional court (CCR) voted yesterday via majority voting that because the decree has already been repealed, that it’s constitutional.

CCR President, Valer Dorneanu, said that as opposed to other instances, the magistrates did not analyse the background of the normative act, as the decree would have resulted in judicial effects.

The decree proposed that people found guilty of abuse of power would only face prison if the money involved was higher than £38,000 (200,000 Lei).

It was passed on Tuesday, January 31. If it became law, it would have saved some politicians from prosecution for corruption. That sparked protests all over the country and numerous calls for Prime Minister Sorin Grindeanu and justice minister Florin Iordache to resign.

Following all that, the Social Democrat government scrapped the decree on Sunday, February 5, and put forward another one, which has striking similarities to the original scrapped version.