Source: European Parliament
Question for written answer E-000133/2025
to the Commission
Rule 144
Erik Kaliňák (NI)
The results of the presidential elections in Romania have been annulled by the Constitutional Court of Romania, but constitutional lawyers have raised a number of concerns with this decision. They point, for example, to the absence of a constitutional or statutory provision allowing the Constitutional Court to initiate ex officio proceedings to review the legality of presidential elections. According to the Law on Presidential Elections, candidates, political parties, political or electoral associations and members of national minority organisations represented in the Council are entitled to lodge a complaint. Furthermore, there is no provision in Romanian law allowing for the annulment of the entire electoral process. The law only provides for the possibility of cancelling and repeating one of the two rounds of elections for very specific reasons (fraudulent acts affecting the ranking of candidates eligible to participate in the second round or the granting of the presidential mandate). Thirdly, the law provides for a three-day period for lodging a complaint against the results of the elections, starting from the close of voting. There is no legal provision to allow proceedings to be initiated later (the decision of 6 December was issued 12 days after the close of voting).
One can sympathise with the concerns raised by Romanian lawyers. In the light of the foregoing:
- 1.Does the Commission not view the actions taken by the Constitutional Court without an adequate legal basis as being ultra vires and therefore a violation of the rule of law?
- 2.What measures does it intend to take to protect the rule of law in order to prevent the abuse of judicial power for political purposes?
Submitted: 15.1.2025