Request for Suspending the President Is Not First In Recent History

The recent attempt of the opposition to suspend Romanian President Traian Basescu was labeled by the latter and his political supporters as an unprecedented attack on democracy itself.

However, it is debatable there was an attack on democracy, and there is no problem in proving there was a precedent to it: the very Democrat Party, now in office, supporting Basescu, and crying fault-play, was among those initiating the suspending procedures in 1994, against the then President Ion Iliescu.

On 19 May 1994, Iliescu stated that "the judiciary placed itself on illegal ground "when ruling for the return of the properties nationalized by the communist regime to the original owners, prior to Parliament adopting a special law regulating the matter."

From a political standpoint it is easy to understand that the center-right and the political left were in fact catering to the needs of their respective electorates when expressing opposite views on the matter.
But the then opposition, now the ruling parties, cried fault-play and wanted Illiescu out of office, as a politician willing to bring in "a velvet dictatorship" and as a former commy with utter disregard to private property.

On 10 June 1994 the statement made by the Peasants’ Party triggered the suspension procedure for Iliescu.
On June 14 the ruling center-right alliance issued a communiqué asking Iliescu to come in front of the Parliament and clarify his position.
On June 17 Iliescu said he would not present himself in front of the Parliament, since he was chosen by popular vote, but that he was ready to meet the leaders of the opposition to clarify things.

Proof there was not an attack on democracy, but more an attack of the opposition against the ruling parties, on June 22, the opposition also filed a motion against the social-democrat government led by Nicolae Vacaroiu, which was rejected on June 30.

On June 28 the request to suspend the President was formally entered in Parliament with 167 votes supporting it.
On July 4 the request was read in front of the two houses of Parliament assembled in common session, and Iliescu had his reply read in by then Social-Democrat Party executive leader Adrian Nastase.

On July 6 the Constitutional Court decided unanimously that Iliescu did not infringe upon the Constitution with his statements regarding the return of properties to former owners and the working of the judiciary.

One day later the Parliament rejected the suspension request with 242 against, and 166 for.
Iliescu left the Presidency two years later, at the regular end of his term in office.

As recent history teaches us, the request for suspending Romania’s president was not about to bring the end of the world.