Romania's top judicial watchdog announced a court challenge on Wednesday to a government decree decriminalising some graft offences in what critics say is the biggest retreat on reforms since the country joined the European Union a decade ago. People take part in a demonstration to protest against government plans to reform some criminal laws through emergency decree, in front of the government headquarters Victoria Palace in Bucharest, Romania, January 29, 2017.

Start the conversation, or Read more at Channelnewsasia.com. </s> BUCHAREST: Romania's Social Democrat government of Prime Minister Sorin Grindeanu on Sunday repealed a decree decriminalising some graft offences, a government source said.

"The decree was scrapped," a government official told Reuters, adding that an official statement would be released soon.

Romania's prime minister said on Saturday he was would scrap the decree following mass protests. It would have shielded dozens of politicians from prosecution for corruption. </s> BUCHAREST (Reuters) - Romania's Social Democrat government of Prime Minister Sorin Grindeanu on Sunday repealed a decree decriminalizing some graft offences, a government source said.

"The decree was scrapped," a government official told Reuters, adding that an official statement would be released soon.

Romania's prime minister said on Saturday he was would scrap the decree following mass protests. It would have shielded dozens of politicians from prosecution for corruption. </s> BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Romania’s government has decriminalized official misconduct, defying mass protests and warnings from prosecutors and the president that the move will reverse the country’s anti-corruption fight.

At 3 a.m. Wednesday, an emergency ordinance decriminalizing abuse in office was published in the official government monitor, and will soon automatically become a law.

The development alarmed critics with its content, the hour and the speed with which the center-left government, less than one month in office, passed a proposal that will benefit government allies and Romanian officials facing corruption charges.

“It shows that the government is willing to use backdoor methods with no scrutiny or checks and balances in order to protect and promote itself,” said Dan Brett, an associate professor at the Open University who comments on Romania. </s> Following mass protests, Romanian government backs down on a controversial plan to water down anti-corruption laws.

Romania's government has said it will withdraw a decree decriminalising minor grant offences, backing down on a controversial plan to water down anti-corruption laws following five days of mass protests across the country.

"Tomorrow (Sunday) we will hold a government meeting to repeal this decree," Sorin Grindeanu, Romania's prime minister, told a news conference on Saturday.

"I do not want to divide Romania. It can't be divided in two."

The announcement came as tens of thousands of people protested for a fith day against the contentious decree that decriminalises abuse of power offences in which the sums do not exceed 200,000 lei ($48,000).

Al Jazeera's David Chater, reporting from the demonstration in the capital, Bucharest, said the news about the decree's withdrawal sparked celebrations among the 70,000 protesters who had gathered in the city centre.

"People power on the street has succeeded in pushing the government into making these concessions," Chater said.

"There is going to be a massive celebration here, instead of another heated protest."

READ MORE: Romanians ramp up protests against corruption decree

The decree, which was adopted earlier this week, prompted large protests throughout the country, the largest since the fall of communist leader Nicolae Ceausescu in 1989.

On Saturday afternoon, demonstrators launched another noisy march in central Bucharest, blowing whistles and vuvuzela horns in the national colours, heading for parliament to form a human chain there.

"At some point we didn't think it would be possible to convince the government to back down on the proposal, but fortunately not even they can be that irrational as to ignore the hundreds of thousands of people protesting," demonstrator Claudiu Craciun told Al Jazeera.

The emergency decree decriminalised criminal punishments for conflict of interest, work negligence and abuse of power cases in which the financial damage is valued at less than $48,000.

A separate bill, to go before parliament, would free some 2,500 prisoners on short sentences.

The government said it was bringing legislation into line with the constitution and reducing overcrowding in prisons.

But critics feared a setback for a year-long fight against graft, calling the measures as a brazenly transparent effort by the government to let off some of the many corrupt officials involved in a series of scandals.

Mihai Politeanu, founder of the Initiative Romania NGO, told Al Jazeera the decriminalisation would had been a disaster for the future of Romania", taking it "back to the early 1990s when corruption and oligarchs took over the country". </s> Romania’s government is ot scrap a decree decriminalising some graft offences, Prime Minister Sorin Grindeanu said on Saturday, as some 140,000 demonstrators protested against the law a stone’s throw from his office.

“We’ll hold an extraordinary meeting on Sunday to repeal the decree, withdraw, cancel it … you understand, and find a legal way to make sure it does not take effect,” Grindeanu said in televised speech from the cabinet’s headquarters.

Călin Tăriceanu, head of the ALDE party – a junior partner of the ruling Social Democrats – told Romania TV: “This [happens] because we have nothing to hide.”

The news came after a fifth consecutive day of protests against the proposed law, which saw tens of thousands of Romanians take to the streets all around the country. An even bigger turnout had been predicted for Sunday. 



Grindeanu said the proposal would be sent to parliament for debate. The prime minister said he did not want to “divide Romania” and that “Romania in this moment seems broken in two.” The country’s constitutional court is expected to rule next week on whether the measure was legal.

Earlier on Saturday the coalition government had hinted that it was considering backing down on the legislation. Liviu Dragnea, head of the ruling Social Democratic party, had told DC News that he was meeting Grindeanu to propose a solution. “We can possibly talk about repealing the decree, if the prime minister agrees,” Dragnea had said.

The overtures were not, however, enough to deter protesters. Thousands of Romanians formed a human chain around the Palace of the Parliament in Bucharest and there were also large-scale protests in the cities of Cluj, Timişoara, Sibiu, Constanța and Braşov.



The government had come under pressure at home and abroad to repeal the emergency decree passed on Wednesday, which waters down the country’s anti-corruption measures. </s> BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Romania’s government decriminalized official misconduct overnight Wednesday, defying mass protests and warnings from prosecutors and the president that the move will reverse the country’s fight against corruption.

An emergency ordinance decriminalizing abuse in office was published at 3 a.m. in the official government monitor and will soon automatically become law.

The speed with which the center-left government approved the proposal and the hour of its action alarmed critics. The coalition government has been in office for less than a month and the ordinance benefits its allies and Romanian officials facing corruption charges.

“It shows that the government is willing to use backdoor methods with no scrutiny or checks and balances in order to protect and promote itself,” said Dan Brett, an associate professor at the Open University.

President Klaus Iohannis, who has limited powers and doesn’t oversee the government, called the measure’s adoption “a day of mourning for the rule of law.”

In recent years, Romania has been touted as a regional leader for targeting the rich and the powerful in a crackdown on corruption. But the drive has proved unpopular with politicians.

Leaders of the center-left Social Democratic Party and the junior Alliance of Democratic Liberals, which form the current coalition government, both face corruption charges that bar them from serving as ministers.

Social Democrat chairman Liviu Dragnea was unable to become prime minister because in April 2016 he received a two-year suspended jail sentence for vote rigging. On Tuesday, he went on trial for abuse of power while he was president of the Teleorman local council from 2006 to 2012. He denies wrongdoing.

Justice Minister Florin Iordache said the emergency ordinance will decriminalize cases of official misconduct in which the damages are valued at less than 200,000 lei ($47,800).

The government on Tuesday evening also sent to Parliament a proposal that will pardon thousands of prisoners. It says the measure, which will free about 3,000 convicts, will help reduce overcrowding in prisons.

Prisoners interviewed by The Associated Press on Tuesday scoffed at the idea, saying the changes are likely to benefit senior officials rather than ordinary convicts.

Protests erupted in cities around the country after the emergency pardon plan was made public last month. The chief anti-corruption prosecutor, Laura Codruta Kovesi, said it “will render the anti-corruption fight irrelevant.”

The National Anticorruption Directorate has prosecuted 1,170 cases of abuse in office during the past three years with damages worth euros 1 billion euros ($1.07 billion.), just under one-third of all of its cases, she said.

Both the EU and Germany criticized the Romanian government’s move.

European Commission Vice President Maros Sefcovic told reporters that the bloc is “following the latest developments in Romania with growing concern.”

“The fight against corruption needs to be advanced and not undone,” Sefcovic said.

German foreign ministry spokesman Martin Schaefer said Berlin also is paying attention.

“With these decisions the Romanian government has obviously ignored massive concerns on the part of the president, the judiciary and large parts of the population,” he said.

Brett said the Social Democratic Party moved fast because “they consider that the world’s attention is on the U.S. at the moment and so international condemnation and pressure will not be forthcoming.”

“As we’ve seen in Poland and Hungary, the slide into authoritarianism isn’t overnight, but slowly one law at a time,” Brett said. </s> BUCHAREST: Romania's new leftist government late on Tuesday decriminalised a number of graft offences including some abuse-of-power cases in the ex-communist state's biggest retreat on anti-corruption reforms since it joined the European Union a decade ago.

More than 10,000 people gathered outside government headquarters in the capital, Bucharest, in freezing temperatures and thousands more in cities across Romania shortly after the emergency decree was announced.

Protesters in Bucharest shouted: "Thieves!" and "Traitors!" and called for the government to resign.

Romania's leftists swept into power in December, promising higher wages and pensions in a parliamentary election that underscored a deepening divide between older rural voters, tired of austerity, and younger city-dwellers.

Their plans to ease anti-corruption rules were unveiled earlier this month, triggering the largest street protests since the 1989 fall of communism.

The leftists said the changes were needed to get the criminal code in line with recent constitutional court rulings.

The Cabinet of Prime Minister Sorin Grindeanu has drawn criticism from President Klaus Iohannis, chief judges and prosecutors, civil rights groups, diplomats and the European Commission, which has Romania's justice system under special monitoring.

"Today is a day of mourning for the rule of law," Iohannis said in a statement. "The government has ignored the dreams of millions of Romanians who want to live in a country free of corruption."

Romania is one of Europe's most corrupt states, with graft rife in state administration and many areas of public life. Efforts to stamp out abuse have accelerated over the past four years.

Prosecutors have indicted nearly 2,000 people in cases involving abuse of power that have caused damages totalling up to 1 billion euros in the past three years.

Several leading politicians are under investigation or on trial in abuse-of-power cases, including the leader of the ruling Social Democrats and lower house Speaker Liviu Dragnea.

The emergency decree - which takes effect immediately - would decriminalise some offences, including abuse of power causing financial damage of less than 200,000 lei (£38,154).

It also approved a draft bill granting prison pardons for several offences that now needs parliament's approval.

"This is a strong hit against criminal justice in Romania, and the impact will be major ... on all citizens," anti-corruption legal expert Laura Stefan said about Tuesday's announcement. </s> BUCHAREST, Feb 8 (Reuters) - Romania's month-old government expects to easily survive a no-confidence motion and "get back to work" on Wednesday, the prime minister said, after mass street protests forced it into an embarrassing U-turn over a graft decree.

Critics said the decree, which also drew condemnation from Romania's Western allies, would have turned back the clock on the fight against corruption in the ex-communist nation. The government rescinded the decree on Sunday.

Despite the scale of the protests, the largest Romania has seen since the 1989 fall of communism, the ruling Social Democrats and their allies have a large majority in parliament after winning a December election.

"This motion has no scope and no target," Prime Minister Sorin Grindeanu told lawmakers at the start of the debate on the motion. "I do hope that as of today we get back to work."

Grindeanu, whose government has been badly shaken by the protests, pledged not to consider any further initiatives similar to the decree "that could awake powerful emotions in society without proper and wide debate".

The decree would have decriminalised a number of graft offences and effectively shielded dozens of public officials from prosecution for graft.

Before the debate, around a dozen protesters wrote RESIST in the snow that had fallen overnight in front of the government headquarters. But the number of people attending daily protests - which reached a quarter of a million on Sunday - has fallen sharply since the government's climbdown.

The text of the no-confidence motion, signed by 123 members of opposition parties, read: "Romanian society has been betrayed and the citizen has been lied to by those who were granted his vote during the election."

Raluca Turcan, the leader of the centre-right National Liberal party, told the debate: "The only solution is your urgent resignation. You must pay with your jobs."

Social Democrat sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, have told Reuters they expect Justice Minister Florin Iordache to submit his resignation on Wednesday.

Parliament must still endorse the government's decision to rescind the graft decree. That vote is expected to come towards the end of the week. (Additional reporting by Luiza Ilie; Editing by Matt Robinson and Gareth Jones)
Despite massive protests in recent days, Romania's government adopts an emergency ordinance to decriminalize some graft offences.