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Parliament of Roumania

Electoral system

The Chamber of Deputies and the Senate are elected in constituencies, by universal, equal, direct, secret, and freelyexpressed suffrage, on the basis of a list system and independent candidatures, according to the principle of proportional

representation. The option for an identical election system of the two Chambers of Parliament confers them the samelegitimacy, as both of them are the expression of the will of the same electoral body.

The two Chambers have different numbers of members: the Chamber of Deputies is composed of 332 Deputies, and theSenate, of 137 Senators. This differentiation is possible owing to the legal provision of a representation norm differing

from one Chamber to the other. Thus, for the election of the Chamber of Deputies the representation norm is of oneDeputy to 70,000 inhabitants, and for the election of the Senate, of one Senator to 160,000 inhabitants.

Structure of the Parliament

The Parliament of Romania has a bicameral structure, and is formed of the Chamber of Deputies and theSenate,appellations taken over from Romanian constitutional traditions. The Romanian bicameral system is substantiated by the

necessity of ensuring a balance in the exercise of the parliamentary functions, by the requirement to debate thoroughly thelaws adopted, and to temper the authoritarian or extremist tendencies of a Chamber, in the appreciation of a state of fact,and in the selection of the decisional version.

The organization of each Chamber is regulated by its own standing orders. The organization of the joint sittings of the twoChambers is regulated by special standing orders of these sittings.

The internal structures of the two Chambers of Parliament consist of the Presidents of the Chambers, the StandingBureaux, theparliamentary committees, and the parliamentary groups.

The parliamentary structures are formed in accordance with the political configuration of each Chamber.

Presidents of the Chambers

The Presidents of the two Chambers are elected for the duration of the Chambers' mandate, by secret vote, in one or moreballot rounds.

The Standing Orders of the Chambers establish certain duties for the Presidents of the Chambers, which may be exercisedby the vice-chairmen of the Standing Bureaux.

Standing Bureaux

Each Chamber of Parliament elects a Standing Bureau composed of a chairman, vice-

chairmen, secretaries and quaestors. The President of the Chamber of Deputies and the President of the Senate are at thesame time chairmen of the two Standing Bureaux.

The other members of the Standing Bureaux are elected in the beginning of each ordinary parliamentary session, at theproposal of the parliamentary groups. The members of the Standing Bureaux may be revoked by a majority vote of theDeputies or of the Senators.

The two Standing Bureaux are formed by political negotiations between the leaders of the parliamentary groups,observing the political configuration of the respective Chamber.

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Parliamentary committees

The parliamentary committees are working bodies of the Chambers of Parliament, playing an important part in thepreparation of the proceedings, as well as in the exercise of the parliamentary functions, particularly of the legislative andcontrol ones.

In the Romanian parliamentary system, according to the Constitution, the Chambers may constitute standing committees,

temporary inquiry committees, or other special committees. Likewise, joint committees may be constituted for the

Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. All these committees are formed in accordance with the political configuration ofeach Chamber.

The sittings of the parliamentary committees are not public; exceptionally, however, these committees may decide toinvite representatives of the press at their debates. Likewise, the committees may decide the conditions under which their

proceedings may be broadcast, unless this impairs certain state interests implying the secrecy of these debates.

Parliamentary groups

The Deputies and Senators may organize themselves into parliamentary groups according to the standing orders of eachChamber.

The parliamentary groups are organized immediately after the Deputies and Senators have met in their first sitting.According to the standing orders of the two Chambers, with a view to "forming the working bodies and carrying on theiractivity, the Deputies and Senators form parliamentary groups consisting of at least 10 members for the Chamber ofDeputies, and of at least 5 for the Senate, who have stood for election on the lists of the respective parties and political

formations. If there are less than 10, and 5, respectively, Deputies and Senators, they may join independent Members ofParliament, with a view to forming parliamentary groups, or they may affiliate to parliamentary groups constitutedaccording to the basic rules. After its formation, the parliamentary group elects a chairman, one or more deputy-chairmen,

as the case may be, and a secretary.

Deputies representing the organizations of citizens belonging to national minorities others than the Magyar minority mayconstitute a single parliamentary group.

A party or a political formation may constitute only one parliamentary group. At the same time, a Deputy or a Senator

may belong only to a single parliamentary group.

The chairman of the group informs the Chamber of Deputies or the Senate, as the case may be, of the number of membersand nominal composition of the parliamentary group of which he or she is the leader.

According to the Standing Orders of the Chamber of Deputies, the Deputies of certain parties or political formations

whose number is not sufficient to form a parliamentary group, as well as the independent Deputies, may join in mixedparliamentary groups or may affiliate to other parliamentary groups.

Senators elected as independent may affiliate to one of the parliamentary groups formed according to the Standing Orders

of the Senate.

The mandate of the Deputies and of the Senators

Deputies and Senators are elected by universal, equal, direct, secret, and freely expressed vote for a mandate of 4 years.The mandate may be extended by an organic law, in case of war or catastrophe.

According to Article 66 of the Constitution, in the exercise of their mandate, Deputies and Senators are in the service ofthe people, and any imperative mandate is void.

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Deputies and Senators take up the exercise of their mandate on the day of the statutory convention of the Chamber theybelong to, on condition of their validation, and the quality of Deputy or Senator ceases on the day of the statutoryconvention of the newly elected Chambers, or in case of resignation, of loss of the electoral rights, of incompatibility, orof demise. The newly elected Parliament meets at the convocation of the President of Romania, within not more than

twenty days after election day.

For the validation of the mandates, each Chamber of Parliament elects at its first sitting a committee, functioning over thewhole duration of the respective Chamber's mandate. The Validation Committee of the Senate is formed of 12 Senators,

and that of the Chamber of Deputies, of 30 Deputies. The nominal composition of each Validation Committee must reflectthe political configuration of the respective Chamber.

Within not more than 4 days after their constitution, the Validation Committees draw up a report, nominating the Deputiesand, respectively, the Senators for whom validation or invalidation of the mandates is proposed, with motivation of the

invalidation proposals.

The validation or invalidation of the Deputies and Senators is made by a majority vote of the members of the respectiveChamber present.

Parliament is statutorily constituted after validation of two thirds of the mandates of the members of each legislative

Chamber.

Parliamentary immunity

Deputies and Senators benefit by parliamentary immunity, the purpose of which is to ensure their protection againstabusive judicial prosecution, and the guarantee of their freedom of thought and action.

Deputies and Senators benefit by immunity after the day of the respective Chamber's statutory meeting, on condition thattheir mandate be validated and extended over the whole duration of the parliamentary mandate.

By reason of parliamentary immunity, no Senator or Deputy may be detained, arrested, searched or indicated for criminalor contraventional offences without the preliminary assent of the Chamber to which he belongs, after his or her hearing.

A Deputy or Senator can be detained or searched without a previous approval by the Chamber to which he belongs, onlyin case of a flagrant offence.

Requests for lifting of the parliamentary immunity are entered with priority on the agenda.

Legislature and sessions

The Chamber of Deputies and the Senate meet in two ordinary annual sessions and in extraordinary sessions.

The first ordinary session begins in February and may not exceed the end of June, while the second ordinary session

begins in September and may not exceed the end of December.

Parliament may meet in extraordinary sessions too, whenever necessary, during the intervals between ordinary sessions, atthe request of the President of Romania, of the Standing Bureau of each Chamber, or of at least one third of the number of

Deputies or Senators.

The Chambers are convened in sessions by their presidents. The meeting of the newly elected Parliament in its firstsession is made at the convocation of the President of Romania, within not more than 20 days after elections.

Sittings

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During the sessions, the Chambers of Parliament work in sittings held in keeping with their Standing Orders. As to thesittings, it must be considered that the Constitution provides for the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate to sit separately,and occasionally in joint sittings.

Parliamentary debates are recorded on magnetic tape, taken down in shorthand, and published in the Monitorul Oficial(Official Gazette of Romania), except those of secret sittings.

Voting procedure

On the questions of debate, the Chambers of Parliamnt decide by vote, which may be open or secret. The mode of votingis established for each subject of debate in part, except the case an open or a secret vote is deliberately required by thestanding orders of the Chambers.

The vote is always personal. The open vote is expressed publicly by show of hands, roll call, standing up, or by electronicdevices.

Functions of the Parliament

The functions of the Parliament of Romania proceed from its quality of supreme representative body of the Romanianpeople and from that of single legislative authority of the country. The main functions of the Parliament of Romania are:

Passing of Laws

The passing of laws is the first and foremost power of Parliament. It consists in the elaboration of uridical norms for theregulation of social relations, conformable to the legislative procedure.

Legislative Initiative

The Legislative initiative belongs to the Government, to Deputies and Senators as well as to a number of at least 250,000

citizens entitled to vote.

The revision of the Constitution may be initiated by the President of Romania, at the proposal of the Government, or of atleast one quarter of the number of Deputies or of the Senators, or of at least 500,000 citizens entitled to vote. The citizens

initiating the revision of the Constitution must come from at least one half of the counties of the country, and in each oneof these counties, or in the Municipality of Bucuresti, at least 20,000 signatures must be registered in support of thisinitiative.

Debates in Parliamentary Committees

Draft bills or legislative proposals are submitted for debate to the Chamber of Deputies or to the Senate together with theadvisory opinion of the Legislative Council. They are registered in the order of their presentation. After they have beenreceived and registered, the standing bureau will distribute them to the parliamentarians and send them to the standing

committees for examination in the substance and formulation of an advisory opinion.

Debates in Plenum

The development of the legislative procedure in the plenum of the Chambers involves a general debate on the draft bill orof the legislative proposal, and a debate by articles. The general debate is preceded by a presentation by the initiator or his

representative, of the motives which have led to the promotion of the legislative initiative.

The initiator's intervention is followed by the presentation of the report of the standin committee informed of the matter.The report is presented by a rapporteur designated by the committee. After presentation of the report, the president gives

the floor to the parliamentarians in order of their names entered on the speakers' list. The initiator has the right to take thefloor before the closing of the general debate.

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In the discussion of each article, parliamentarians may take the floor to express their own opinion or that of the group towhich they belong. The initiator also may take the floor. In the speeches only amendments can be suggested regardingclarity of expression and style or issues which do not affect he substance of the case and which are of lesser importance.

Voting of the Draft Bill

At the closing of the debate by articles of each draft bill or of each legislative proposal the Chamber proceeds to their final

voting. Draft bills or proposals for the revision of the Constitution are adopted by a majority of at least two thirds of thenumber of members of each Chamber. Draft of organic laws are passed by the vote of a majority of the members of each

Chamber. Ordinary draft bills are passed by the vote of a majority of the members present in each Chamber.

Mediation

If one of the Chambers has adopted a draft bill or legislative proposal in a wording different from that passed by the otherChamber, the presidents of the two Chambers initiate the procedure of mediation through the agency of a parity

committee. The Mediation Committee wiII try to eliminate the texts on which there is division of opinion by drawing up aformulation acceptable to the two Chambers. The proposals of the Mediation Committee are entered in a report, which issubmitted for debate and adoption to the two Chambers in separate sittings.

Control of the Constitutionality of the Laws

The laws adopted are submitted to a preliminary control as to their constitutionality at the intimation of the President ofRomania, of one of the presidents of the two Chambers of the Government, of the Supreme Court of Justice or of anumber of at least twenty-five senators, or at least fifty deputies. In order to exercise this right, the law is handed to thesecretaries general of the two Chambers, it is communicated to the interested parties, and, after passage of a term of fivedays, it is sent to the President of Romanra for promulgation. Intimation of the Constitutional Court suspends the term for

the promulgation of the law.

Promulgation of the law

The laws adopted by the two Chambers of Parliament with identical texts are sent for promulgation to the President of

Romania. The promulgation is made within 20 days at the most after its reception. Before promulgation, the Presidentmay ask Parliament, once only, to re-examine the law within not more than 20 days after the law was received for

promulgation.

Coming into Force of the Law

The law comes into force on the day of its publication in the Monitorul Oficial (Official Gazette of Romania), or at thedate provided in its text, which date may not be previous to the publication.

Acts of the Parliament

According to Article 64 under the Constitution, the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate pass laws, decisions, andmotions, all these being juridical acts. Parliament and each Chamber in part may also adopt exclusively political acts such

as declarations, appeals, messages, and others.

LAWS are normative acts adopted by Parliament according to the legislative procedure. In the hierarchy of the juridicalacts issued by Parliament, laws stand on a position superior to decisions and motions. It is supreme in relation to the other

normative acts, which have to be conformable to its dispositions.

Laws emmanate only from Parliament, the successive a proval of draft bills or of legislative proposals by each of the twoChambers being necessary, except the law on the state budget and the law on the budget of the state social insurance,which are debated and adopted in a joint sitting of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate.

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DECISIONS are adopted by each Chamber separately or in a joint sitting. They may have a normative or an individualcharacter. As compared with laws, decisions have an inferior juridical force.

MOTIONS are individual juridical acts, expressing the Members of Parliament's opinion on or attitude towards a certain

question of internal or external policy. By their very nature, motions express an attitude towards the Government, the mostimportant of them being the motion of censure, which may lead to the dismissal of the Government.