The Government has approved a draft law on the revision of the Romanian Constitution, which it will send to President of Romania,and which will afterwards be submitted for debate and approval to Parliament, Prime Minister Emil Boc has announced, at the end of today’s Executive meeting. "The government used the constitutional provisions to propose the draft revision of the Constitution of Romania, which he will submit to the President of Romania, who has the right to submit it to Parliament for debate and approval. I mention that the draft law on the revsion of Constitution is the product of consultation between Government and President of Romania, at governmental level and within the coalition backing the Executive, " PM has stated.

PM Emil Boc has presented the main amendments to be made to the Basic Law, outlining that the most important of these changes implement the results of the referendum in which Romanians were consulted about the establishment of a unicameral parliamentary system and of a maximum number of MPs.

Prime Minister has also stated that Parliament will be composed of one Chamber - House of Representatives, that will discuss draft laws twice – in first reading and second reading – at the distance of at least 30 days, except some extraordinary situations. Also, the Constitution will enshrine the maximum number of MPs: 300.

Prime Minister Emil Boc submitted further amendments to be made to the Basic Law "to reconcile the Constitution with some of Constitutional Court’s decisions on dysfunctionalities in the functioning of state powers."

Thus, the organization of a referendum on a proposal from Romanian President as the Constitution currently does not specify a period within which Parliament may issue the advisory opinion, Prime Minister Emil Boc has stated that the draft law for the revision of the Constitution provides that "Parliament must express its views no later than 30 calendar days from the President’s request. " After the expiry of 30 days, the Romanian President issues the decree on the organization of the referendum, the constitutional procedure of Parliament consultation being considering as met, Prime Minister further stated. Also, Prime Minister warned that the nature of referendum the President of Romania can organize will not be amended, this keeping its nature of consultative referendum.

When forming a new government, the constitutional text stipulates that Parliament must rule within 10 days on the list of nominated Cabinet, and Government programme, failing that practice, the Cabinet is rejected and the Head of State should nominate other Prime Minister. "If in those 10 days, the Parliament does not consider debating programme for the Government and the list of Cabinet members, the designated candidate together with the programme for Government and the list will be considered rejected and the President will nominate another candidate for Prime Minister. Tacit approval does not work: Prime Minister is considered approved. Conversely, no one can override Parliament’s vote. Only that we set some limits, eliminate the possibility of abuse, for Parliament to refuse considering and casting a positive or negative vote on a designated Prime minister, on what he proposes: the list of Cabinet members and programme for Government. From this perspective, we make operational the mechanism to appoint a new Cabinet" PM Emil Boc explained.

The draft law to revise the Constitution makes amendments to the parliamentary procedure for suspension of Romanian President, by amending the character of Constitutional Court’s opinion. Thus, Prime Minister Emil Boc stated that if the Constitutional Court's opinion reveals that the Head of State has not violated the Constitution, the parliamentary procedure stops.

Other provision of the draft law approved today refers to the procedure of dissolving Parliament, so Parliament can be dissolved if it rejects at least two requests for investiture of a government within 45 days, not 60 days as present. "The 60 day deadline is cut to 45 days, just to eliminate from the Romanian political scene the period of uncertainty, when almost nothing happens and political crisis deepens," PM said.

Regarding the Superior Council of Magistracy, the draft law also provides that this is composed of 19 members: 10 elected by general meetings of magistrates, 6 representatives of civil society, the Minister of Justice, president of the High Court of Cassation and Justice, and Attorney General of Romania.

It will also be introduced into the Constitution a provision stipulating that "public authorities shall consult the organizations of citizens belonging to national minorities on the decisions on preservation, development and expression of ethnic, cultural and religious identities. It is a fair thing, a thing related to the democratic logic, respect for minority rights to be consulted in decisions affecting the conservation, development and expression of their ethnic, cultural and religious identities”.