Bill makes it easier to impeach Romanian president

Romania’s lower house of parliament has passed a bill which makes it easier to impeach the country’s president if he is found to have violated the constitution.

The bill, which was sponsored by the left-wing opposition and passed by 215 votes to 56, makes it possible for voters to impeach the president with a simple majority in a referendum, instead of a nearly impossible threshold requiring approval from a majority of registered voters.

President Traian Basescu can veto the bill, but parliament can overrule him by voting again on the issue.

Social Democratic Party chairman Mircea Geoana, whose party has begun proceedings to suspend Basescu for allegedly violating the constitution by sparking political disputes, hailed the vote as a “victory for parliamentary democracy.”

Prime Minister Calin Popescu Tariceanu, who has been at odds with Basescu, said his Liberal Party backed the bill because it believed that it should be possible to fire a president with the same majority that elected him.

He added that he believed the new requirement would not apply to Basescu’s current term in office.

Tariceanu also criticised Basescu, saying the president had been trying “for the last two years to damage the ruling coalition, the Liberal Party, and replace the prime minister.”

Tariceanu’s Liberal Party and the Democratic Party, which was headed by Basescu prior to his election as president, form the country’s governing coalition with backing from a small party representing ethnic Hungarians.

The Democrats said they would challenge the referendum bill in court, claiming it is unconstitutional.