In particular circumstances, it is enough for three judges who sympathize with the ruling party to serve on the Constitutional Court and the danger of adopting unconstitutional laws will thus exist. The overcoming of the current crisis situation depends on the behavior of the CC judges, who can prevent similar crises, ex-CC judge Victor Pușcaș, university professor, said in a public debate titled “Constitutional Court swaying in the political wind: norm or deviation?”, which was organized by IPN News Agency.
The university professor noted that all the guarantees for ensuring the independence of the CC judges were instituted, but the problem resides in something else. “The CC started to claim more powers than it has. The Court will remain at the level of words if the constitutional judges delimit the opportunity problems and the constitutionality problems”. Victor Pușcaș gave a number of examples when the CC judges abused their power, one of these being when the Prime Minister was banned from holding this post further for opportunity reasons.
In another development, Victor Pușcaș said that at the start of the 1990s, our country left that totalitarian, Soviet regime dominated by very strict rules, where the courts of law were recognized not as a branch of power, but as a continuation of the political power. “The courts of law were like the Cinderella of Soviet society. The changes started in the 1990s as things were to be ordered so as they should be in a state with the rule of law,” noted the professor.
According to him, the Soviet state didn’t recognize the constitutional law as a discipline and didn’t recognize the constitutional control of laws, etc. “The constitutionality control is a new instrument even in the world. It was instituted in Europe in 1919-1920. In the United States of America, it appeared earlier, in 1803, while in the Soviet Union in 1988. Later, after the declaring of Independence and after the adoption of the Constitution of the Republic of Moldova, after studying all the doctrines of the world, it was reached the conclusion that the Constitutional Court should be created as an independent institution. Its place is outside the branches of power,” stated Victor Pușcaș.
He also said that it was “quiet” initially and the political power didn’t interfere much in the activity of the Constitutional Court, but political tendencies to control the CC started to appear. “This became visible after 2001, when the Party of Communists came to power with 71 seats of MP. But in that period too, there was no direct influence and they used mainly the amendment of the legislation so that this suited the power. This actually began in 2001,” stated the professor.
The debate “Constitutional Court swaying in the political wind: norm or deviation?” was the 131st installment of the series of debates “Developing political culture through public debates” that are supported by the Hanns Seidel Foundation.