Romanian Parliament Extends Court Of Accounts Mandates Until Sep 30

The decision was made with 15 pros, four cons from the democrat liberals and one abstention, from Lucian Bolcas, member of the Greater Romania Party.

Senate chairman Nicolae Vacaroiu said there were many views expressed in the reunion, reaching the conclusion that one of two decisions is possible.

He stated the first variant consists of the initiation of the procedure for the reexamination of the draft law on the organization and functioning of the Court of Accounts, a procedure that meant passing the document through the Chamber of Deputies, as first chamber notified, later through the Senate, as decider, after which there would have been a third extraordinary session called, in which the 18 members at the helm of the Court of Accounts would have been heard and appointed.

Vacaroiu added this procedure takes one month and a half, a period in which the state would be without a fundamental institution. Throughout this procedure, European funds would become unavailable, as there would be no Court of Accounts to control them.

The Senate chairman went on saying that, by means of consequence, the second option was considered, namely the decision to extend the mandates of the current leadership until September 30.

The two Chambers of Parliament had a joint meeting, one week ago, to vote on the extension of mandates, but the meeting was suspended on  lack of quorum.

At that time, Senate secretary Gavrila Vasilescu said only 60 senators had cast their vote, while 15 had left the room. Of the senators who cast votes, 50 were in favor of extending mandates, seven against and three abstained.

"The quorum for the Senate is 67 lawmakers, so there was no quorum,” Vasilescu said at that time.

Chamber of Deputies secretary Gelil Eserghep said in his turn that 157 lawmakers were present, while 172 were absent. Of the ones who attended, 114 voted in favor, 21 against, 21 abstained, and one lawmaker “did not vote”.

The plenary session was suspended as only 217 lawmakers cast votes, out of 231 needed to meet quorum. 

After the suspension of the meeting, the vote on the “borderline illegal” extension of the mandates was cancelled, while the mandates had expired on May 31.

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