Romania Braced For Huge Protests Amid 'Big Step Backwards' On Rule Of Law

The ruling Social Democrat Party (PSD) gave Romania its third prime minister this week, in just a little over a year since they came to power. The moment of changing PMs coincided with the visit of Japanese prime minister Shinzō Abe, who had no counterpart to meet, so he went to the village museum. The first two prime ministers had a falling out with PSD leader Liviu Dragnea because they didn’t do a good job of supporting the changes on the judicial system and the criminal code Dragnea had in store — changes that would effectively erase the separation of powers in the state.

These changes that the Government of Romania wants to make threaten to put the country on the path of Poland and Hungary, drifting it apart from the EU.

But with the new prime minister Viorica Dăncilă, Dragnea — “who is barred from the premiership because of a conviction for ballot-rigging that led to a two-year suspended prison sentence” — seems to have finally hit the jackpot. She is a fierce supporter of the changes in the justice laws that last year sparked the biggest demonstrations in Romania since the fall communism, having sent a misleading email to her colleagues in the European Parliament last January, telling everybody that "concerns about the new laws were unfounded".

Just to be clear, if these laws pass, abuse of office that involves sums under €200,000 will no longer be a criminal offense; bribe taking on behalf of someone else will be decriminalized; prosecutors will no longer be allowed to use wiretaps, CCTV footage or digital evidence in their criminal investigations, etc. 

Sadly, a few misinformed feminists have hurried to celebrate the appointment of the first female prime minister, in a country as traditional as Romania, while completely ignoring the context in which that happened and the resume of the person in question.