Bill to withdraw immunity of MPs may be political PR, analyst

The bill with amendments to the Constitution, which provides for the withdrawal of the immunity of lawmakers, may be simple political PR. The politicians often resort to such methods in order to tell the voters that they wanted to do something good. Such an opinion was expressed by political analyst Ion Tabarta, vice director of the Political Consultancy and Analysis Center “Politicon”. When contacted by Info-Prim Neo, the analyst said that the initiative put forward by the Liberal-Democratic faction is in fact a positive one as there are MPs suspected of being involved in acts of corruption, who use the parliamentary immunity to protect themselves. However, he does not exclude that this bill may be simple political PR, especially because the Constitution can be amended by the votes of 61 MPs, while the Liberal-Democratic faction has only 31 lawmakers. “They make attempts. If they do not succeed, they will go to the voters and say that they wanted to change things, but weren’t supported. A good initiative is a good argument when you speak to your voters,” stated Ion Tabarta. He believes that the colleagues from the alliance will not back the bill. “In order to be able to work well, an MP should not be harassed by certain institutions over corruption,” said the political analyst. As to the parliamentary opposition, he considers that it will not support the bill because its initiatives aren’t backed either. Ion Tabarta also said that the withdrawal of immunity is a democratic practice, but they should better simplify the procedure for withdrawing the immunity in certain situations. The head of the Liberal-Democratic faction Valeriu Strelet on November 14 called on his alliance colleagues and the opposition to vote in favor of the bill.