The citizens who offered a mandate to the current government want the government to be predictable. In this regard, the prescribed procedures and the laws should be respected when it goes to the lawmaking process or appointments, for example. If the procedures are violated, there are reasons for concern, expert Igor Boțan stated in IPN’s public debate “Government’s actions in relation to regulatory and inspection institutions: between de-capture and democratic backsliding”.
Igor Boțan, the standing expert of IPN’s project, said the current Constitutional Court adopted a decision-making method showing that it declares the legal provisions passed with violations of the procedures unconstitutional. This is a bell ring warning that the government can find itself in a difficult situation after hurrying, even if it had good intentions.
The expert made reference to a CC judgment that clearly stipulates that the law enforcement and regulatory agencies should not be politicized. “My interest as a citizen was for things in these institutions to be brought in order once and for all and for the reforms started now by the Party of Action and Solidarity not to be annulled in four years. If PAS does not gain one more mandate, those who come to stage a new general cleanup risk being confronted by those who will be prompted by PAS at law enforcement and regulatory agencies and a vicious circle will be thus entered,” stated Igor Boțan.
According to him, the relations between the power and the opposition generate concern. The power, which should obey the legal procedures and should be predictable, and the opposition are equally responsible for the current developments in the country.
The power inherited the legacy left by the current opposition, which ruled for many years, but could not solve many of the existing problems, including to depoliticize the mechanism for appointing members of the Central Election Commission. It’s not clear why it has objections about this mechanism now.
An example is also the method of appointing the heads of law enforcement and regulatory agencies. “We remember the epopee of the so-called contests of 2019, including the one to fill the posts of Constitutional Court judges. Four of the CC judges were named by contest, while the last two were named by Parliament according to political criteria. Then this mechanism for naming persons, including according to political criteria, didn’t generate concern,” noted Igor Boțan.
According to the expert, the current opposition should not speak now out of political instinct. Reason should also be used. The instinct and reason of a powerful opposition are necessary or control over power will be lost and this is very dangerous.
Igor Boțan said the opposition exerts pressure on the power because it is an eventual future power. “Be careful so that when you lose power you do not regret the things you did and that the institutions hadn’t been strengthened and depoliticized.”
The public debate “Government’s actions in relation to regulatory and inspection institutions: between de-capture and democratic backsliding” was staged by IPN in the framework of the project “Developing Political Culture through Public Debates” that is supported by the Hanns Seidel Foundation.
