The President of Romania, Nicusor Dan, has sent a request to the Bucharest Parliament for the reconsideration of the amended law on combating extremism, reports IPN.
According to the head of the Romanian state, in its current form, the law is insufficiently clear in defining certain offenses. Some articles can be interpreted abusively, which could potentially turn people unrelated to extremism into offenders, states Nicusor Dan.
“The Romanian state has the duty to act firmly against hatred, xenophobia and incitement to discrimination. However, this duty can only be fulfilled through clear, predictable and balanced laws. Otherwise, we risk the opposite effect: amplifying tensions in an already polarized society and deepening mistrust in state institutions,” the president wrote on Facebook.
The new law stipulates prison sentences from one to five years for the distribution of any material containing xenophobic ideas, without making a distinction between extremist propaganda materials and literary works or historical texts, exemplified Nicusor Dan, adding that Romania needs both firmness and balance – both being essential for the defense of democracy.
