Romanian NGOs Fear Pressure as New Bill Passes Senate

A bill submitted by Romania's ruling Social Democrat Party, PSD, requires non-governmental organizations to declare their sources of funding every six months or face dissolution, causing great concern among civic activists and opposition party politicians in Bucharest. 

The bill passed the Romanian Senate on Monday and is set to pass the lower chamber this week - the ruling coalition of PSD and its junior ally, the Alliance for Liberals and Democrats, ALDE, holds the majority in parliament.

According to the document, all NGOs are obliged to publish a detailed list of donors, their jobs and the amount they donated in the Official Journal every six months, or else they lose their right to function within 30 days.

The bill also stipulates that an NGO cannot attain "public utility organisation" status unless it proves that it has not engaged in any political activity - fundraising or opposing a political party or candidate - in the previous two years. Public utility organisations are selected by the government and are entitled to a series of state subsidies. However, the most recent regulation on public funding for NGOs does not discriminate between listed and non-listed organisations.

The government did not endorse the bill, but the bill passed by default, as the Senate failed to debate it before its November 20 deadline.

Opposition MPs harshly criticised the document, with several MPs pointing out that it could be used as a means by which to silence criticism in civil society.

"Technically, the Social Democrats are bothered by civic organizations and don't see their use to Romanian democracy," an MP from Save Romania Union, Florina Presada (a former NGO worker) posted on her Facebook account.

Liberal MP Ovidiu Raetchi also...