The joint plenary session of the Parliament in which Premier Victor Ponta will present a statement on matters that pertain to the EU was scheduled for June 12, at 3.00 PM. The announcement was made yesterday by the minister for the relation with the Parliament, Mircea Dusa, at the conclusion of the meeting of the joint Permanent Bureaus of the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies. Dusa explained that, most likely, group leaders will demand on June 12 to establish by vote who is to represent Romania in Brussels. “The topics that are discussed in Brussels and at the European Council (EC) refer to the Government, and no other state institution. Current matters are managed and dealt with by the Government, not the Presidency,” Dusa said, alluding to the conflict between president and premier over who will represent Romania in the EC this June. In his turn, the vice-president of the Chamber of Deputies, PSD Deputy Viorel Hrebenciuc said that the decision which the Parliament will make over who will represent Romania in the EC may also become mandatory. “The president is part of the Executive power and he might take this decision, the opinion of the Parliament into consideration, if he respects it,” Hrebenciuc said.Senate quaestor Radu Berceanu (PDL) however said that the Parliament cannot rule on who will represent Romania in the European Council, as this is provided by the Constitution. “Nobody can come and ask us to decide who came first – the chicken or the egg – because this is outside the Parliament’s competence. This problem is solved by the Constitution. Who cannot understand these nuances may address to the Constitutional Court, but not to the Parliament,” Berceanu said, quoted by Mediafax. Premier Victor Ponta recently asked the Parliament, in an open letter, the permission to present in the joint session of the two Houses a statement about the topics present on the EU agenda, but did not request that the Legislative passes a decision on the mandate and representation of Romania in the European Council.
