The Constitutional Court provided a solution, ruling that if the President refuses repeatedly to fulfil his constitutional obligations, he is suspended from office and the Speaker of Parliament or the Premier unblock the created situation. Thus, a legal solution exists, but a political solution is also needed so that such a confrontation is not witnessed, MP Sergiu Sîrbu, vice president of the Democratic Party of Moldova, said in the public debate “Suspension of President: legality, institutional blockage, political confrontation” that was the 94th installment of the series of debates “Developing political culture by public debates” staged by IPN News Agency and Radio Moldova. The MP voiced hope that the most recent suspension will be the last one in the country’s history, but doubted this anyway.

Sergiu Sîrbu said a serious and defying violation of the Constitution by the President was witnessed and not for the first time. “That’s why resulting from the practice of the Constitutional Court and the historical decision of the autumn of 2017, the last application was filed with the intention of solving that institutional conflict that degenerated into a constitutional blockage caused by the President’s refusal to name members of the Cabinet. You should know that I had not even the slightest pleasure of going and submitting this application to the Constitutional Court as I think that this is a national shame. We reached an exceptional situation when we had to make use of this mechanism for ensuring the constitutional duties that the President deliberately refused to perform are fulfilled,” he stated.

According to the MP, the Court’s decision provides solutions so that we do not reach a full impasse in such situations, but this mechanism should not be used very often. This had to be used or a blockage would have been experienced indeed. The CC not only once said that the President is not responsible for the government program, does not lead the Government and thus cannot a priori have the veto right in this regard. “He can one time refuse to sign for particular reasons, but when the Prime Minister fields the same candidates again, he is obliged to do it. We already have the third precedent when the President refuses to deliberately name the ministers, defiantly violates the Constitution of the Republic of Moldova and we have a situation of blockage. That’s why we had to go to the CC to break the deadlock,” he noted, voicing hope that the most recent suspension will be the last one in the country’s history, but doubted this.

In another development, Sergiu Sîrbu said the Court’s decision is definitive, irrevocable and should be executed. There is also the notion of extensive interpretation and the Court repeatedly made use of this right. The international practice also knows such procedures. “There are the constitutional norms and the Court’s judgement. The Constitution was violated and the suspension decision was thus taken. It was rather a moral impossibility when one has a whim and does not want to obey the Constitution . There is also the dismissal procedure, but the legal procedures here are less complex and there are time restrictions – a referendum cannot be held 60 days before the elections. There is also a political motivation,” he noted.

The vice president of the PDM said that besides the purely legal aspects ignored by some, there could be a political conflict ultimately. “It’s a pity we have such a political confrontation as the President took an oath with his hand on the Constitution and on the Declaration of Independence, which clearly say that he will act in the name of the whole population and will obey the Constitution, not in the name of one political party. This is probably why we have this political confrontation. The President probably considers himself the President of a part of society, but he promised to be the President of everyone,” he stated.

The debate “Suspension of President: legality, institutional blockage, political confrontation” forms part of the series of debates held by IPN News Agency and Radio Moldova as part of the project “Developing political culture by public debates” that is supported by the Hanns Seidel Foundation of Germany.