Parliament worked ineffectively in this year's first half, report

In Parliament's spring/summer session the MPs worked chaotically and in constant controversy. On the one hand, there was an nonconstructive competition between the parliamentary majority and the opposition, and on the other, there was an often unsound competition among the component parties of the Eurointegration Alliance, according to a report by the think-tank IDIS Viitorul. The report says the adoption or rejection of bills exceeded the limits of normality and utility, becoming a bargaining chip and subject to constant mutual conditioning. The effects of these disputes affected the efficiency of the law-making activity. In the spring/summer session, Parliament managed to complete only two-thirds of its intended work. In the case of the Communist faction, which chose boycotts and walk-outs as their main instruments, the participation rate was 45%. All these pointed to an arbitrary institutional conduct in exercising basic functions, which is true of all the parliamentary factions, the report suggested. The defective preparation of the agenda often led to the fragmentation and inconsistency of the legislature's work. The sometimes arbitrary inclusion or exclusion of certain bills, according to IDIS, demonstrated the existence of narrow and conjuncture interests when promoting legislative proposals, without observing procedural rules. The report also recommended that, in order to discipline the MPs, penalties should be introduced in the Parliament's Regulations for unwarranted failure to appear at the sittings of the legislature and its standing commissions. According to a survey conducted by IMAS together with IDIS Viitorul, 47.2% of its respondents said the penalty for absenteeism should be the loss of the MP status. The report was published one day ahead of the start of a new session to draw attention to the legislature's failures.