Romania's Social Democrats Demand Probe Into 'Deep State'

Leaders of Romania's ruling centre-left coalition on Monday said they were considering the formation of a new committee in parliament to investigate the possible existence and workings of a "deep state" - as their conflict with anti-graft prosecutors worsens.

A report of the ruling Social Democratic Party-led commission advises parliament to "verify the involvement of meta-state groups in the abusive, illegal and undemocratic control over political, economic and social life in Romania, as well as over the actions of justice in 2004-2017."

A parliamentary committee in 2017 investigated allegations of fraud in the 2009 presidential elections, which the Social Democratic candidate, Mircea Geoana, lost to the then-incumbent, Traian Basescu.

Several former and current officials, including anti-graft chief prosecutor Laura Codruta, Kovesi, were called in for hearings to explain why they met on the eve of the elections. Kovesi rejected the invitation to the hearing.

"There is more and more proof that this system, this deep state, this mafia that is trying to illegitimately grab the power in Romania, exists," the Social Democrat leader and president of the Chamber of Deputies Liviu Dragnea said on Monday, before a party leadership meeting.

In November 2017, the Social Democrats adopted a statement condemning an alleged "illegitimate deep state."

The leader of ALDE, the Social Democrats' liberal coalition partners, Senate Speaker Calin Popescu Tariceanu, expressed support for the proposal on Sunday.

"The meta-state group that I have been speaking about for a long time is the deep state that we see everywhere: in parliament, the parties, the media, the economy, justice. I don't think we can turn a blind eye to all the anomalies that...