Romania’s centre-left coalition government is bracing itself for rolling demonstrations by tens of thousands of protesters over claims that it wants to overhaul the justice system to allow high-level corruption to go unpunished.
Citizens demanding “rights and prosperity” marched through Bucharest and other cities on Sunday evening. A second demonstration is planned for Friday, Grand Union Day, a national public holiday marking the unifying of Romania’s ethnic minorities.
A call has gone out on social media for protesters to congregate at Victory Square, the seat of the Romanian government, in an escalation of one of the most significant crises in the country since the fall of the communist regime.
A joint statement by about 40 civil society groups and two trade union federations behind the protests claimed Romania had been “taken over by a political mafia”.
The government’s attempts to reform the organisations at the forefront of Romania’s attempts to tackle corruption have been beset by claims at home and abroad that it is seeking to protect senior figures from justice.
In February a decree that would have shielded dozens of public officials from prosecution sparked the biggest street protests in the country since the 1989 Christmas revolution toppled the communist dictator Nicolae Ceauşescu.
The decree was rescinded after two weeks of daily demonstrations. The minister for justice, Florin Iordache, resigned, only to be later appointed to head a special parliamentary commission driving new legislative changes.
The government’s opponents claim that under the draft laws now being considered in parliament, the powers of the respected anti-corruption directorate, the DNA, would be reduced, with the justice ministry able to name head prosecutors.
The judicial inspection body that investigates the work of judges would also come under the control of the minister of justice. A new structure staffed by prosecutors is being devised to investigate criminal acts committed by magistrates.
Iordache’s special parliamentary commission started considering the laws last week and continued its deliberations on Monday. The government aims to have them approved by the end of the year, in what critics say is unseemly haste.
The proposed reforms are particularly incendiary as they come at the same time as changes to the tax system, moving responsibility for social security payments from the employer to the employee.
The Romanian government is a coalition between the Social Democrat party (PSD), which has been criticised for harbouring former figures from the communist regime, along with the centre-right Liberal-Democrat Alliance and the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania.
An annual report published by the European commission this month said justice reform had stagnated in Romania this year and challenges to judicial independence remained a persistent source of concern.
It noted the increased prevalence of criticism of the judiciary and the need for the government to “discourage behaviour which amounts to open challenges to the independence of justice and the authority of court decisions”.
On Sunday evening, a traditional time for protest in Romania, an estimated 30,000 people marched to parliament in Bucharest, while roughly 20,000 held rallies in about 70 cities across the country.
Protesters shouting “Thieves” and “We want justice not corruption” briefly scuffled with mounted police in Bucharest and blew whistles as they marched.
Monica Macovei, a former justice minister from the centre-right European Conservatives and Reformists group, said: “There will be more protests. There is no need to change the laws on the judiciary.
“This coalition wants to stop the fight of the judiciary against corruption. It is time for the EU to send a very, very strong message because despite the report by the European commission the government is carrying on and judicial independence is in danger. The pan-European groups in the European parliament should also expel these parties. It should not be the people of Romania who suffer.”
In the last decade, Romanian prosecutors have investigated hundreds of public officials, including former prime ministers, over allegations of corruption.
This month prosecutors froze personal assets belonging to the leader of the PSD, Liviu Dragnea, as part of an investigation into suspected theft of cash from state projects, some of them EU-funded.
The European Anti-Fraud Office says the money was fraudulently paid to officials and others from the European Regional Development Fund for road construction in Romania. It asked the Romanian government to recover the funds.
Dragnea denies wrongdoing and has appealed against the ruling to freeze his assets. He is unable to be prime minister because of a 2016 conviction for vote-rigging.
Corruption experts say there are some positive aspects to the proposed reforms, including greater transparency and parliamentary scrutiny of the work of the secret services.
