The Constitutional Court (CC) is against amending the Constitution as MPs of the Party of Action and Solidary Party (PAS) proposed in a bill. This amends Article 70 of the Constitution so that it allows the MPs to carry out private activities while holding office, IPN reports.
“The constitutional draft law to amend Article 70, paragraph 1 of the Constitution does not meet the material review limits set down by Article 142, paragraph 2 of the Constitution and cannot be submitted to Parliament for examination,” CC president Nicolae Roșca stated in the meeting in which the proposal was considered.
By the proposed bill, the PAS MPs aimed to amend Article 70, paragraph 1 of the Constitution, which provides that the status of MP is incompatible with any other paid post, except for teaching and scientific activities. The MPs suggested amending the Constitution so that this envisioned the incompatibility of the seat of MP with public posts only and allowed the MPs to have private occupations in arts, medicine, consultancy and other areas.
The Constitutional Court held that the proposed amendment affects the principle of independence of the seat of MP and can affect the holding of office by allowing carrying out activities that, by their nature, run counter to this or hinder the MPs from appropriately fulfilling their main duties in the service of the people.
“This way, the Court considers that the constitutional draft law does not ensure a correct abstract balance between the principle of representative mandate of the MP (Articles 39 and 68 of the Constitution) and the principle of incompatibility of the seat of MP (Article 70 of the Constitution),” says the Court’s decision.
The CC’s decision is definitive, cannot be challenged, takes effect when it is adopted and is published in the Official Gazette.
