Romania's Senators Backtrack on Graft Pardon

In a sudden U-turn, Romania's senate rejected an amendment offering an amnesty for a raft of graft-related offences passed by MPs on Wednesday, following renewed street protests.

Up to 2,000 people protested on Wednesday night in Bucharest after senators in the legal commission voted for including graft offenses in a pardoning bill. Photo: Vadim Ghirda/AP

Romanian senators on Thursday voted down amendments to a bill offering an amnesty for graft-related offences, only a day after they had agreed to pass the bill – after activists mobilised on social media calling for renewed protests.

Up to 2,000 people gathered on Wednesday night in front of the government building in Bucharest, chanting “We don’t want to be a country of thieves!”, while drivers on Thursday circled the parliament honking in protest.

Activists had called for new protests on Thursday night and for a march from the government headquarters to parliament on Saturday afternoon.

The controversial amendments were drafted mainly by Social Democrat MP Serban Nicolae and former president Traian Basescu, currently a Popular Movement Party senator.

The Senate’s legal committee had approved the amendments to the bill to include influence peddling and bribe-taking on the list of pardonable offences. However, two Liberal senators who would have voted against the amendments were absent.

In its initial form, the bill covered all jail sentences up to five years, except for crimes related to corruption, violence, treason, genocide and other grave crimes, as well as repeat offenders.

Corruption offences were taken out of the bill after the Social Democrat-led cabinet under Sorin Grindeanu repealed a similar decree in February that would have shielded dozens of public officials from prosecution. The decree drew heavy international criticism and triggered the largest nationwide protests since 1989.

As protesters gathered in front of the government building on Wednesday night, Prime Minister Grindeanu and Social Democrat chief Liviu Dragnea said the government did not support pardoning corruption offences.

Dragnea, who himself has a two-year suspended jail sentence for rigging a referendum in 2012 and is currently on trial in a separate abuse of office case, said on Wednesday on Facebook that he did “not support pardoning corruption offences … I will have a chat with the PSD [Social Democrat] members of the commission so that the final form of the report does not include these amendments”.

Anti-graft prosecutors in the National Anticorruption Directorate, DNA, have in recent years indicted a growing number of lawmakers, local administration employees, mayors and ministers for abuse of office, influence peddling and bribery.

Romania is still seen as one of the most corrupt countries in the European Union and its justice system is under the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism, a monitoring measure, alongside Bulgaria.

The European Commission has repeatedly praised Romania’s judiciary for its progress in prosecuting graft, but noted in its most recent report at the end of January that Romania’s parliament has a track record of trying to weaken such efforts.