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President Iohannis refers 2019 national budget bill to court
President Klaus Iohannis on Friday filed with the Constitutional Court of Romania (CCR) a constitutionality objection over the 2019 national budget bill, the Presidential Administration reported.
"There are, unfortunately, unconstitutionality aspects in this budget as well. The budget of national disgrace not only endangers the Romanian economy, but also it also contains clear unconstitutionality aspects. Romania's obligations towards the European Union, where it belongs, are not met; it violates some fundamental rights; the role of the Fiscal Council has been ignored, while the principle of decentralisation and the principle of subsidiarity are undermined. For all of this, I will refer today to the CCR the 2019 national budget, the budget of the national disgrace," Iohannis told journalists at the Cotroceni Presidential Palace.
He specified that he would also refer to the CCR a law on the approval of the ceilings of some indicators specified in the 2019 fiscal and budgetary framework.
Iohannis called the budget "unrealistic, overvalued and delayed."
"With this budget, the PSD [Social Democratic Party, main at rule] is trying to paper over the multiple failures of its government so far. They have called it the investment budget and that's the first big lie therein," Iohannis said.
He added that, under the law PSD had to put forth the budget on November 15, 2018.
"I tell you why they are late: they do not want to conduct investment because they have no money, so they delayed the budget by three months," said Iohannis.
He also criticised statements about regional hospitals.
"Asked a few days ago about regional hospitals, the much discussed hospitals, the promised regional hospitals, the PSD minister responded in a stupefying manner. The PSD minister said they have money for design. Just so you know: three years into governance they only have money for design work! There is no way they want to complete the hospitals. They do not want to make public investments; they just promise and do nothing. But when it comes to them, they have the money. PSD took great care appropriating huge amounts to fund political parties: it will take out 150 million out of the 270 million proposed for party funding," Iohannis said.
He argued that this amount is more than 20 times the amount for election year 2016. "PSD has put aside 20 times more money for itself," added Iohannis.
According to him, "local administration is a sure victim of this budget."
"Romania's local communities receive a billion lei less than last year. How can city halls work without this money? How to conduct their investment? Obviously they cannot do that. The city halls will have to abandon important local investment projects to cope with this budget," said Iohannis.
"By its passage and normative contents, the aforementioned bill violates Article 1(5), Article 11(1) and (2), Article 47, Article 50, Article 120 (1), 135 (2) (f) and 148 (2) and (4) of the Constitution," Iohanni said in his court filing, mentioning that Parliament had forwarded the bill to him for promulgation on February 20.
"There are, unfortunately, unconstitutionality aspects in this budget as well. The budget of national disgrace not only endangers the Romanian economy, but also it also contains clear unconstitutionality aspects. Romania's obligations towards the European Union, where it belongs, are not met; it violates some fundamental rights; the role of the Fiscal Council has been ignored, while the principle of decentralisation and the principle of subsidiarity are undermined. For all of this, I will refer today to the CCR the 2019 national budget, the budget of the national disgrace," Iohannis told journalists at the Cotroceni Presidential Palace.
According to Iohannis, the file of the legislative path of the 2019 state budget bill lacks a declaration of responsibility of the prime minister and the public finance minister, as required by the legislation.
President Iohannis specifies that the piece of legislation was passed in violation of the provisions of the fundamental law, according to which "following accession, the provisions of the EU constitutive treaties, as well as the other community mandatory regulations have priority over the domestic laws' contrary dispositions, with the observance of the membership act's provisions."
Moreover, the president stresses that the report on the macroeconomic situation on 2019 and its 2020 - 2022 projection was lodged by the gov't, according to its legal obligation, and yet it is grounded on a situation ignoring the developments at the world and the European economy's level.
He specified that he would also refer to the CCR a law on the approval of the ceilings of some indicators specified in the 2019 fiscal and budgetary framework.
Romania's Constitutional Court (CCR) will discuss on 6 March the President Klaus Iohannis' referral on the 2019 state budget bill, sources with the CCR announced.
Social Democratic Party (PSD) Vice President, Deputy Doina Pana said on Friday in Bistrita that President Iohannis' speech when he announced that he had referred the state budget bill to the Constitutional Court was a disinformation, manipulation and anti-PSD one, given that the president is not allowed to do politics, according to the Constitution.
As far as the PSD deputy is concerned, "Romania no longer has a president according to the Constitution" because "he not only blocks in any way he can the government, but also does politics. The entire speech around the budget today was disinformation, manipulation and a very, very clear political message. His entire speech on the budget was anti-PSD, something that a president is not allowed to do."
Pana accuses Klaus Iohannis of the fact that he is currently delaying the budget, which is why the announced investments cannot be made and the children's allowances cannot be raised as of March 1, given that CCR was also referred to in relation to the capping law, which increased the deficit.
"So he is the one who is causing the delay, the one who only blocks the Government, throws a spanner in the works, puts the brakes on," said PSD vice president.
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