The Constitutional Court (CC) accepted the request to suspend the effect of Law No. 244 (of December 16, 2020) to amend a number of normative documents, which refers to the powers of the National Integrity Authority (NIA) and the way in which this must fulfill its duties. PAS MP Sergiu Litvinenco asked the CC to subject the law to constitutionality control a priori, IPN reports.

The Court held that the suspension of the challenged law has a number of benefits and is a necessary solution for avoiding prejudice and the imminent negative consequences for constitutional order. The President has to wait for the CC’s decision and to promulgate the law only if its constitutionality is confirmed by the Court.

According to a statement signed by the National Platform of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum, the goal of this law is to limit the National Integrity Authority’s powers related to the imposition of penalties on public functionaries. The bill hadn’t been approved by the Government and hadn’t been subject to anticorruption revaluation and provides that the NIA will be unable to punish a public functionary with dismissal if only one year after the commission of the violation.