Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies Liviu Dragnea on Friday urged Parliament to follow the procedures for the approval of a law sanctioning Government Emergency Ordinance (OUG) 14/2017 abrogating recent controversial amendments to the Criminal Code and the Code of Criminal Procedure.
“As speaker of the Chamber of Deputies and national leader of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) I am urging all my Parliament colleagues to approve, as soon as procedurally possible, a law sanctioning Ordinance 14 abrogating Government’s latest amendments to the two codes. So far as I understand, all the parliamentary parties want that. So, there is a quasi-unanimity to this end, which means defeating OUG 14 is out of the question, while prolonging debates on this topic is unjustifiable,” Dragnea said Friday in a press statement released by the Chamber of Deputies.
He explained that urgency for a debate on OUG14 arises from the nature of the ordinance itself and no special request is needed.
“I have heard some parties ask for urgent debates on OUG14. There is no need for an express request for that. Given that thus is an emergency ordinance, it has to be discussed urgently. That is what the Constitution of Romania says at Article 115 (5). What I am asking is for the emergency procedure to be followed as soon as procedurally possible, so that Parliament may vote on the abrogation of Ordinance 13 and swiftly send the law for promulgation,” said Dragnea.
The Government on February 5 passed OUG 14/2017 abrogating Emergency Ordinance 13/2017 amending and supplementing Law 286/2009 concerning the Criminal Code and Law 135/2010 concerning the Code of Criminal Procedure. The OUG was published in the Official Journal, Part I the same day.
