Political System and State Institutions in Romania

1
Political System and State Institutions in Romania

• Ramona COMAN and
• Ruxandra IVAN
• PhD researchers,
• Université Libre de Bruxelles

2
The political system

• Objects of analysis
• 1. Historical heritage (path dependency)
• 2. Legal framework Constitution, electoral
  laws
• 3. State institutions
• 4. Political actors

3
Historical heritage

• Why historical heritage is important?
• Theories of path dependency
• Authoritarian regime -gtdemocracy ? totalitarian
  regime -gtdemocracy.
• Need for a complete transformation of the state
  and the society

4
Historical heritage

• Why the historical heritage is important
• What kind of democratic tradition?
• The late modernization of the Romanian society
  (19th century)
• The modern Romanian State is founded with the
  1866 Constitution (Monarchy)
• Political parties Liberals, Conservatives,
  Peasant Party

5
Modern RomaniaThe Royal family
6
The royal dictatorship and the fascist regime

• 1938 Instauration of the Royal dictatorship
• 1940 The national fascist party (The Legion of
  St Michael) gains power
• 1941 Instauration of Marshall Antonescus
  military dictatorship

7
Fascism in Romania
8
1945 The communist regime
9
1965 Nicolae Ceausescu comes to power

• Since 1971, he develops a personality cult
  inspired by the North Korean model
• He tries to distance his foreign policy from the
  USSR -gt he attracts the sympathy of the West
  (Nixon, de Gaulle visiting Romania)
• His main objective is to pay the foreign debt, so
  that Romania becomes truly independent -gt The
  life standards are drastically declining

10
1989 The fall of communism
11
The constitutional moments

• 1866 the first Romanian Constitution. Form of
  government constitutional monarchy
• 1923 democratic constitution
• 1938 Constitution of the Royal dictatorship
• 1948 First communist Constitution, inspired by
  the Soviet fundamental law of 1936
• 1952
• 1965
• 1991
• 2003 revision of the 1991 Constitution

12
The 2003 Constitution

• 156 articles, 8 titles
• General principles
• Fundamental rights and obligations
• Public authorities
• Economy and public finances
• The Constitutional Court
• The Euro-Atlantic integration
• The procedure of revision
• Final dispositions

13
The 2003 Constitution

• General principles
• Romania is a national, sovereign and independent,
  unitary and indivisible State (art. 1.1)
• The form of government is the Republic (art. 1.2)
• The political pluralism is guaranteed (art. 8),
  as well as the right to free association of the
  civil society (art. 9)

14
The 2003 Constitution

• Among the fundamental rights of Romanian citizens
  are
• The right to life and individual liberty (art.
  22, 23)
• The freedom of conscience and speech (art. 29,
  30)
• The access to information, education, culture,
  health protection
• The right to vote and to be elected, including
  for the European Parliament after the accession
  (art. 36, 37, 38)
• The right to work (art. 41)
• The private property is guaranteed (art. 44)

15
The 2003 Constitution the State institutions

• The President as well as the MPs are elected by
  universal suffrage
• The system of checks and balances
• between the President and the Parliament
• What kind of regime?

16
Presidential powers vs. parliamentary powers

• The Parliament
•  The Parliament is the supreme representative
  organ of the Romanian people and the unique
  legislative power of the country  (1991 2003)
• The Parliament is the depositary of the
  constituent power
• The MPs are elected for a 4 years term of office

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Presidential powers vs. parliamentary powers

• The President
• The President of the Republic represents the
  Romanian State
• He is the guarantor of the national independency,
  of the territorial unity and integrity of the
  country (art. 80.1)
• He is the guarantor of the Constitution and the
  mediator between public authorities and between
  the State and the society (art. 80.2)
• Since 2003, the President is elected for a 5 year
  term of office

18
Presidential powers vs. parliamentary powers

• The President proposes a candidate for the
  function of Prime Minister the latter proposes
  the other members of the Government
• The Parliament approves or rejects the Government
  by a vote of confidence
• but
• The President cannot revoke the Prime Minister
  it is responsible only before the Parliament
  (art. 107.9 and 109.1)
• The President can dissolve the Parliament under
  certain conditions (art. 89)
• The Parliament can impeach the President for
  breaking the Constitution or accuse him of high
  treason
• The President has extended powers in foreign
  policy, defense and cases of emergency state

19
Romanian presidents, 1991-2006

• Ion Iliescu 1990-1991 1991-1992 1992-1996
  2000-2004
• Emil Constantinescu 1996-2000
• Traian Basescu 2004-present

20
The structure of the Parliament symmetric
bi-cameralism

• According to the 1991 and 2003 Constitutions, the
  Chamber of Deputies and the Senate are elected by
  the same procedure and have the same prerogatives
  and functions
• The 2003 Constitution slightly modifies the
  symmetry by specifying the order of the
  examination of laws
• The bi-cameral structure is heavily criticized

21
The judicial power

• Constitutional reform, 1991
• The independence of the judiciary
• The fundamental principle of the rule of law
• The Superior Council of Magistrates
• Different forms of politicization appointment of
  the SCM members, subordination to the Ministry of
  Justice
• Adoption of organic laws , 1999-2004
• Politicization of the justice
• Control of the executive over the judiciary
• The independence of judges does not always exist
  in reality
• 3 organic laws
• The SCM
• The independence of judges
• Organization of the judiciary power

22
The Constitutional Court

• Composition 9 judges 3 appointed by the Chamber
  of deputies, 3 by the Senate and 3 by the
  President for a 9 years term
• Validates elections and makes decisions regarding
  the constitutionality of laws, treaties,
  ordinances, and internal rules of the Parliament
• An ex ante and an ex post control is this
  appropriate for a young democracy?
• The constitutionality of laws the relations
  between the Constitutional Court and the
  Parliament in the 2003 Constitution

23
Types of laws

• The Constitution
• The EU and NATO accession laws a sui generis
  category
• Organic laws
• Ordinary laws

24
The territorial-administrative divisions

• 41 counties 1 municipality (Bucharest)
• 8 regions of development with no legal status
• Local government autonomy, but with limited
  decentralization of budget
• The Government appoints representatives in each
  county (prefects)

25
The electoral system

• Proportional representation, list system, one
  ballot
• Electoral threshold from 0.2 to 5 and 8-10
  for the coalitions
• Observations
• Great number of participants in the elections
• Proportional non-representation
• Reform proposal
• Majority voting

26
The electoral system

• Instable coalition cabinets from 1990 to 2000
  average time in office 572 days
• Stable coalition cabinets 2000 2004, Adrian
  Nastase
• 2004-present Calin Popescu Tariceanu

27
Problems of the electoral system

• Very high proportionality the number of mandates
  in the Chamber corresponds to a 40 million
  population according to the rule of the cube root
• But
• A very high percentage of the population (15 to
  20) is not represented. The votes are
  redistributed.

28
The party system

• In 1990, the political pluralism was encouraged
  by a very low electoral threshold (0,2), by the
  possibility to create a party with only 251
  members, and by State subsidies given to new
  parties
• Later, the electoral threshold was raised to 5
  for parties and 8 for coalitions.
• A party can now be legally registered only with
  at least 25 000 signatures

29
Romanian political parties

• The products of the 1989 Revolution
• FSN, the party founded by Ion Iliescu. In 1992 it
  splits into FDSN (Ion Iliescu) and FSN (Petre
  Roman)
• The FDSN changes its name into PDSR (1996) and
  then (2000), by absorbing the PSDR, into PSD (now
  in opposition)
• The FSN becomes PD (now in government)
• Both PSD and PD are based on a social-democratic
  doctrine

30
The 1990-1992 and 1992-1996 governments

• The FSN won the 1990 elections with a 77
  majority. It was split in two after the September
  1991 Minoriad.
• It was perceived as a neo-communist party by the
  West.
• In 1992, it won the elections with a very feeble
  majority and formed the government together with
  three neo-communist parties (the red
  quadrilateral).

31
Romanian political parties

• The historical parties The National Peasant
  Christian-Democrat Party (PNTCD)
• Re-founded clandestinely in 1987. Main opposition
  party until 1996, when it takes power. Does not
  pass the electoral threshold in 2000 and 2004.
• Member of the CDI and EPP.
• Paradoxically, its voters are not the peasants,
  but the highly educated middle class.

32
Romanian political parties

• The historical parties The National Liberal
  Party (PNL)
• From the point of view of the doctrine and
  membership, it is one of the most stable parties
  after 1989.
• Slogan through ourselves! -gt through
  ourselves to Europe!
• Like the majority of Romanian parties, it has
  known several scissions and fusions.

33
The 1996-2000 legislature

• The historical parties made a coalition, The
  Democratic Convention (CDR), that won the 1996
  elections.
• The capital of sympathy of the Convention, both
  internally and externally, was huge at the
  beginning. By the disastrous economic results of
  the government, it disappointed both voters and
  external supporters.

34
Romanian political parties

• National minority parties The Democrat union of
  the Magyars of Romania (UDMR)
• Ideologically, a Christian Democrat party
• It traditionally obtains around 7-8 of the votes
• Has been participating to the government ever
  since 1996, both with the historical parties and
  the PSD.

35
The 2000-2004 legislature

• After the disastrous results of the CDR
  government, the party of Ion Iliescu won the
  elections once again. Although it did not have
  the parliamentary majority, it decided to form
  the government by itself, with the support of
  UDMR and other parties.
• The government proved very stable, but there were
  important suspicions of corruption in the party.

36
Romanian political parties

• Populists, extremists, nationalists The Great
  Romania Party (PRM)
• In a first time, very xenophobe, anti-Semite,
  anti-European. Changes discourse around 2004 in
  order to get support from the European party
  federations.
• In 2000, it obtained almost 20 of the votes in
  2004, around 13

37
The electoral results
38
The 2004-present legislature

• After the victory of Traian Basescu, the
  government was formed by the DA (Justice and
  Truth) alliance (PNL-PD) PC UDMR.
• It has proven so far a stable government the
  media reports occasional disputes between the
  coalition partners, but this can also reinforce
  the system of checks and balances.

39
Current issues in Romanian politics

• Disagreements inside the governing coalition
• Possible scission of PSD former Prime Minister
  investigated for corruption
• The lustration laws and CNSAS
• National Security strategy and laws