Initiatives that are not examined during a Parliament mandate are annulled

The provision from the Parliament’s Regulations saying that the legislative initiatives that aren’t examined during the mandate of a legislature become null and void does not run counter to the Constitution, the Constitutional Court ruled Tuesday after Communist MPs Sergiu Sarbu and Artur Reshetnikov filed a challenge in this respect, Info-Prim Neo reports. The Constitutional Court agreed that the setting of a period of validity for the legislative initiatives is aimed at freeing the legislative process from bills that are not examined for a long period of time as many of them are no longer topical. It held that the constitutional provisions do not ban setting terms for examining bills. However, the Court ruled that only the bills registered in Parliament that weren’t included in the agenda of legislative sittings can be declared null and void. The bills included in the agenda that weren’t adopted or rejected are to be examined by the new legislative body. The judges said that though the Communist lawmakers’ challenge formally refers to the exercise of the right to legislative initiative, its essence resides in the possibilities of obstructing the legislative initiatives of the parliamentary opposition, which are offered by the amendments made to the Parliament’s Regulations. In this connection, the Constitutional Court reiterated the opposition’s role in ensuring the functioning of democracy and stressed the necessity of instituting mechanisms that would make sure that the bills presented by the opposition are considered.