The Constitutional Court (CC) on December 4 ordered suspending the recent Parliament decision, by which the Board of Directors of the National Agency for Energy Regulation (NAER) was dismissed, with a view to avoiding serious damage and negative consequences for the country’s energy security, IPN reports.

The Court reacted this way following a challenge by which three MPs disputed the dismissal of the four NAER directors by a Parliament decision of December 3, 2015. It decided to examine this application as a matter of urgency on December 8.

The application filed by Democratic MPs Andrian Candu and Sergiu Sarbu and Liberal-Democratic MP Ion Creanga dispute the Parliament decision to abrogate the decision by which the NAER’s Board of Directors was appointed. “We consider that by adopting Decision No. 224 of December 3, 2015, Parliament exceeded the constitutional limits, defying thus the Supreme Law. Such a step is a absurdity and an illegality,” it is said in the challenge.

The authors of the challenge said that when the issue was discussed in Parliament, the existence or inexistence of legal reasons for discharging the four directors wasn’t considered. “The NAER directors cannot be removed from post, while the authority empowered to appoint these must respect their independence, without exerting political presume. Otherwise, the essence and meaning of the mandate are diminished. The post of director on the Board of Directors of the NAER is a public, not a political post and represents a special public interest,” they said.

The application says that Parliament, by such a decision, directly and indirectly defied the Constitution. “The dismissal of the administration of such an institution as the NAER, in the middle of the heating season, leaves a very important area without control and effective management. Moreover, this institution is obliged to review the gas tariffs within 15 days and to carry out other legal duties of major importance,” says the challenge.