Thursday 9 February 2017

Romanian Government Wins No-Confidence Motion Over Graft Decree

Romanian Government Wins No-Confidence(अविश्‍वास) Motion Over Graft (कलम) Decree(हुक्मनामा)  Bucharest: Romania’s social democrat-led government easily survived a no-confidence motion in parliament on Wednesday, three days after mass street protests forced it into an embarrassing U-turn over a graft decree. Critics said, the decree, which also drew rebukes
from Romania’s Western allies, would have turned back the clock on the fight against corruption in the ex-communist nation of 20 million people. The government rescinded(इसे रद्द कर दिया) the decree on Sunday.

“I do hope that as of today we get back to work,” Prime Minister Sorin Grindeanu told lawmakers before the vote. At least 5,000 protesters(प्रदर्शनकारियों)  gathered(इकट्ठा)  outside government headquarters late on Wednesday to demand the cabinet’s resignation, despite(के बावजूद)  a snowstorm(बर्फ का तूफान) , subzero temperatures and power blackouts. “We exist, we resist,” they chanted. 

Separately, an estimated 200 pro-government protesters gathered outside centrist President Klaus Iohannis’s office in support of Grindeanu. Iohannis briefly went outside to talk to them but they refused dialogue. The social democrats and their allies control nearly two thirds of parliament seats after winning a December election. They abstained in Wednesday’s vote, when 161 lawmakers backed the no-confidence motion and eight voted against. 

The government, however, has been badly shaken (स्फूर्त) by the protests, some of the largest in Romania since the 1989 fall of communism, and opposition parties vowed after Wednesday’s vote to continue their close scrutiny of the ruling party’s actions.

One minister resigned last week saying he could not support the decree. Grindeanu said a decision on whether to dismiss justice minister Florin Iordache, the decree’s architect, would be announced on Thursday.

Opposition deputy Catalin Predoiu said of the no-confidence motion: “This is a warning signal that we managed to gather the votes of the whole opposition and it also shows that whenever the new government derails we will gather and sanction it.”

“Powerful emotions”

Grindeanu said that his government would not consider any further initiatives similar to the rescinded decree “that could awake powerful emotions in society without proper and wide debate”.

The decree would have decriminalised a number of graft offences and effectively shielded dozens of public officials from prosecution for graft.

The number of people attending daily protests – which reached a quarter of a million on Sunday – has fallen since the government’s climbdown.

Parliament must still endorse the government’s decision to rescind the graft decree.

Social Democrat Party leader Liviu Dragnea, who is on trial in an abuse of office case and could have benefitted from the decree, said the repeal should be discussed and approved in parliament as soon as possible.

Earlier on Wednesday the constitutional court rejected challenges on procedural grounds brought against the rescinded decree by President Iohannis and the top magistrates’ council.

The court said it would reconvene on Thursday to consider a separate challenge brought by Romania’s ombudsman against the content of the decree.

Romania remains one of the poorest and most graft-prone member states of the EU, which it joined in 2007.




Graft  कलम Definitions of graft
noun
a shoot or twig inserted into a slit on the trunk or stem of a living plant, from which it receives sap.
From those few grafts, other grafts were made from the top cuttings of the trees, but the seeds have never germinated.
synonyms: scion, cutting, shoot, offshoot, bud, sprout, sprig
a piece of living tissue that is transplanted surgically.
The database also provides survival rates of people who received cell grafts , helping doctors and their patients evaluate the potential risks and benefits of transplantation in treating disorders such as leukemia.
synonyms: transplant, implant
Graft  कलम Definitions of graft
noun
a shoot or twig inserted into a slit on the trunk or stem of a living plant, from which it receives sap.
From those few grafts, other grafts were made from the top cuttings of the trees, but the seeds have never germinated.
synonyms: scion, cutting, shoot, offshoot, bud, sprout, sprig
a piece of living tissue that is transplanted surgically.
The database also provides survival rates of people who received cell grafts , helping doctors and their patients evaluate the potential risks and benefits of transplantation in treating disorders such as leukemia.
synonyms: transplant, implant

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