The Gojdu Decree Doesn’t Go Through

The Chamber Plenum has rejected the law project regarding the approval of the Decree that was supposed to ratify the Romanian-Hungarian agreement about the initiation of the Gojdu Foundation. It is the first time when a bilateral agreement is rejected by the Parliament.

Yesterday’s atmosphere in the Deputies’ Chamber included screaming, fraud accusations, and insults. The result of the final vote showed that, out of the 177 deputies in the room, 88 voted "for", 83 voted "against" and 4 couldn’t decide. The rules say the abstentions count as votes against, the meeting president, Lucian Bolcas (GRP), announced the fact that the decree has passed by only one vote. The Power was happy for a little while. SDP member Ioan Bivolaru contested the result of the vote, because the decree needed 89 votes, half plus one, in order to pass. After looking at the rules, the meeting president Lucian Bolcas, announced the decree didn’t pass and he wouldn’t send it to the Senate. He stated that the problem came from the fact that 2 of the 177 deputies didn’t vote, and, given the circumstances, the number of the votes "against" together with the abstentions has been greater than the number of the votes "for".

SURPRISE

The leader of the democrat deputies, Cristian Radulescu, said, in his turn,: "I am surprised by the fact that the agreement didn’t pass. We, the members of the Alliance, decided to vote for the compromise formula, meaning that the Gojdu Foundation in Sibiu wouldn’t lose its pretension right". However, he looked surprised to have seen six of his deputy colleagues vote "against" the agreement. "No comment, we will discuss all about it in our parliamentary group’s meeting", Radulescu said. He stated there were representatives from all the parties in the Alliance. The two deputies that didn’t vote were also members of the Alliance - Titu Gheorghiof (NLP) and Toro Tiberiu (DUHR). On the other hand, five DP deputies have voted against the decree, together with SDP and GRP. Some of them were Valeriu Tabara, Aurel Olarean, Ion Puchianu, Mihai Stanisoara and Petre Strachinariu, and member of the Conservatory Party, Nicolae Olarean. The abstentions also came from members of the Coallition: Nicolae Bara (DP), Florea Damian (CP) and Mihai Malaimare (NLP).

CIRCUS

The debate on the project took four hours, more than half of the time being wasted by the deputies with discussions and argues regarding the procedure. Right from the beginning, SDP and GRP looked intrigued by the absence of the External Affairs Minister, Razvan Ungureanu. "I didn’t expect to see Ungureanu mastered. I knew Macovei had a master", president Victor Ponta said. He accused the Minister of going to a seminary together with President Traian Basescu instead of coming to the Parliament. "Minister Ungureanu defies us. Each time, he promises to come and, each time, he finds other more important matters. I ask for the his resignation", GRP deputy, Lia Olguta Vasilescu, said to the microphone.

"PACHYDERMS"

The GRP members have been the most strenuous. "Shame on you, you pachyderms!", Ioan Manzana, the leader of the GRP deputies shouted at the members of the Alliance. "I am sorry about what I said, but I cannot be blind and not see the fact that some colleagues of mine show their lack of respect by not showing at this meeting", he said to his colleagues afterwards. The members of the Coalition have been accused of having "tons of cards (used to vote) on their desks", and two deputies from GRP couldn’t find their cards. They asked for the list of the votes. Mona Musca is on the list, and she is not in the room", Marcu Tudor shouted. "Fraud!", he added.

THE TACIT VOTE

The President of the juridical Commission, CP Deputy Sergiu Andon, says that, actually, the decree regarding the Gojdu Foundation has been approved tacitly; the final date for its approval expired yesterday. "We rejected the abjection law. Therefore, we do not have an abjection law. The plenum also rejected the enactment law, so we do not have an enactment law either. As a conclusion, the decree is still valid, and the Senate will take the final decision (…) none of the solutions is suitable and the tacit enactment is valid now". "We didn’t enact the project for abjection, or the one for the enactment. In such situations, the project goes back to the Commission. However, because today was the last day, the project is tacitly adopted and goes to the Senate, in the initial form", Social Democrat Florin Iordache, vice-president of the juridical Commission, stated for us. The effects of the agreement will show before the Parliament will adopt the law for the abjection or for the enactment of the decree.

Translated by Sorin Balan