Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan, first reaction after meeting with the head of the CCR

The statements were made in Oradea, after the visit to the underground and overground passages on Calea Aradului (DN 79).

Asked if he met with the President of the Constitutional Court, why the meeting took place in the office of the President of the Senate and what they discussed, Ilie Bolojan did not explicitly confirm the meeting, but he did not deny it either, stating that „they’re trying to make a mountain out of a molehill”.

„You see, many times they’re trying to make a mountain out of a molehill.. We are in a case like this where this scheme is being tried”, said Ilie Bolojan.

Such meetings are a part of the normal activity, acting PM says

Ilie Bolojan explained that such meetings are part of the normal activity of a person who holds a public office and drew a parallel with the period in which he was mayor of Oradea.

„When you hold a public office, you obviously have meetings with representatives of institutions, with companies, in order to solve problems. When I was mayor of Oradea and the headquarters of the Oradea Court of Appeal were being rehabilitated, someone had to go to support the project in the interministerial CTE, someone had to solve the problems of utility connections, to work in parallel”, said the prime minister.

Bolojan said that, during that period, he had meetings with representatives of the leadership of the Oradea Court of Appeal, without these having anything to do with the files pending before the court.

„And then, of course, we had meetings with those who led the Oradea Court of Appeal to resolve institutional issues, but that does not mean that we resolved the cases that were pending”, he said.

Bolojan also gave an example from the period when he led the Bihor County Council.

„When I was president of the County Council, we had meetings again to resolve issues and I remember that the Prosecutor’s Office wanted to build a headquarters. And we had meetings again with representatives of the Prosecutor’s Office leadership and we identified a plot of land and made the land available to them to build the headquarters, but again, that does not mean that we resolved the cases or files that they had in hand. That is how it is in such cases”, Bolojan added.

High Court Raises “Serious Institutional Concerns” Over Meeting Involving Ilie Bolojan

Ilie Bolojan’s reaction comes on the same day that the High Court of Cassation and Justice requested „immediate and complete” clarifications regarding the meeting and claimed that the explanations provided so far do not remove doubts regarding the appearance of impartiality.

The supreme court speaks of a situation of „particular institutional gravity” and directly invokes the fact that Ilie Bolojan is a party to a case pending before the Constitutional Court.

„In a conflict between the powers of the state, the constitutional arbitrator must not only be independent and impartial, but must also be located, unequivocally, outside any reasonable appearance of influence or proximity to one of the parties”, the High Court said.

The President of the Constitutional Court Met with Bolojan

The controversy arose after information according to which Elena-Simina Tănăsescu and Ilie Bolojan met on Friday in the office of the President of the Senate, Mircea Abrudean.

The Constitutional Court announced on Sunday evening that the meetings of the President of the Constitutional Court with representatives of the executive authority are exclusively aimed at administrative and organizational issues.

„In exercising these powers, the meetings of the President of the Constitutional Court with representatives of the executive authority are exclusively aimed at issues related to the proper organization, administration and conduct of the institution’s activity, within the limits of the powers provided by law”, the CCR announced.

The Court also stated that pending cases are not discussed outside of legal procedures.

„The President of the Constitutional Court firmly and categorically reaffirms that no case pending before the Court is and cannot be the subject of discussions outside the procedural and legal framework in which it is to be resolved”, according to the CCR.