Politics of Romania

                 Politics of Romania take place in a framework of a semi-presidential parliamentary representative democratic republic, whereby the Prime Minister of Romania is the head of government and the President of Romania exercises the functions of head of state. Romania has a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of parliament, the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. The judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. Romania's 1991 constitution, amended in 2003 proclaims Romania a democratic and social republic, deriving its sovereignty from the people. It also states that "human dignity, civic rights and freedoms, the unhindered development of human personality, justice, and political pluralism are supreme and guaranteed values".
The constitution provides for a President, a Parliament, a Constitutional Court and a separate system of lower courts that includes The High Court of Cassation and Justice. The right to vote is granted to all citizens over 18 years of age.

 

 

 

 

 

 

                 The Romanian political mechanism

 

 

 

Regional institutions

              For territorial and administrative purposes, Romania is divided into 41 counties (judeţe, singular judeţ) and the city of Bucharest. Each county is governed by an elected county council. Local councils and elected mayors are the public administration authorities in villages and towns. The county council is the public administration authority that coordinates the activities of all village and town councils in a county.
              The central government appoints a prefect for each county and the Bucharest municipality. The prefect is the representative of the government at the local level and directs any public services of the ministries and other central agencies at the county level. A prefect may block the action of a local authority if he deems it unlawful or unconstitutional. The matter is then decided by an administrative court.
              Under new legislation in force since January 1999, local councils have control over spending of their allocations from the central government budget as well as authority to raise additional revenue locally. Central-government-appointed prefects formerly had significant authority over the budget; this is now limited to a review of expenditures to ascertain their constitutionality.

Traian Băsescu

President of Romania

                            Traian Băsescu  (born 4 November 1951) is the president of Romania, serving since 2004 but currently suspended. Mayor of Bucharest from 2000 to 2004, he was elected president in 2004, suspended from office in 2007 but reconfirmed a month later in a plebiscite. He was re-elected president for a second 5-year term in 2009, amidst allegations of electoral fraud that were ultimately dismissed by the Constitutional Court of Romania. On 6 July 2012 he was again suspended from office and currently awaits the popular vote on his dismissal on 29 July.

                 Professional career

 

                Băsescu graduated from the Naval Institute of Constanţa in 1976 and became a merchant marine deck officer at Navrom, the Romanian state-owned shipping company. Between 1981 and 1987 he served as Captain on Romanian commercial ships. Throughout his career, questions have been raised about Basescu's links to the Securitate, the security services of the communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu. But Basescu has said his links with the former Securitate were minimal, though some contact was obligatory at the time for somebody working abroad in a senior position. In 1984 he was promoted to Captain of the oil tanker Biruinţa, the largest ship of the then Romanian commercial fleet. In 1989, Băsescu moved to Belgium to head the Navrom Agency in Antwerp.

                Traian Basescu Suspended

               The petition for suspending president Traian Basescu passed on Friday the Parliament vote. Officialy, there were recorded 256 votes in favor of Traian Basescu’s suspension, while against the petition there were 114 votes, and 2 votes were cancelled.

               The Social Liberal Union (USL) will propose a referendum for Traian Basescu’s dismissal on July 29th.                Following President’s suspension, according to the Romanian Constitution, art.95, 3rd line, a referendum must be organized within at most 30 days, referendum at which the population is asked whether they agree or not with President’s removal.

              If 50 percent plus one of the voters agree, the President will be dismissed and presidential elections will be held during the following 3 months.

              Crin Antonescu, Head of the Senate Chamber, will be acting president until the referendum. If Traian Băsescu is dismissed, Crin Antonescu will serve as Interim Head of State until a new president will be elected. If the President of the Senate cannot occupy this position, then the President of the Lower Chamber (Deputies), Valeriu Zgonea, becomes Interim President.

            This is the second time that President Traian Băsescu is suspended, after the one of April 19, 2007, when Parliament suspended the Head of State, by 322 votes to 108, of the 430 parliament members present.

           The Parliament decision back then led, for the first time in the history post-December 1989, to the organization of a referendum through which the voting citizens were called to the ballot boxes to say whether they still wanted Traian Basescu as President or not.

 Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/


Other sites:http://romanianpolitic.blogspot.ro/
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