PSD replies President Iohannis:Constitution revision should take place much earlier than presidential election

The Social Democrats consider that the revision of the Constitution should take place before the presidential election, therefore the date of the referendum on amending the fundamental law will be set immediately after the beginning of the new parliamentary session. "With regard to the referendum for the revision of the Constitution for the transposition of the outcomes of the May 26 referendum, the Social Democratic Party (PSD) considers it should take place as soon as possible so as to duly express the will of the people. In this context, the term proposed by the President is too long, considering the unequivocal answer given by the Romanian people to the two questions of the referendum. The revision of the Constitution must therefore take place much earlier than the presidential election, and the date of the referendum will be set immediately after the start of the new parliamentary session," PSD said in a release this Wednesday. As regards the follow-up report published by GRECO, the release states that the document refers to the March ad-hoc evaluation and, contrary to what President Klaus Iohannis asserted, has nothing to do with the May 26 referendum. "The GRECO report contains conclusions and recommendations that have and still generate fierce disputes within the Romanian judicial system. The magistrates themselves are critical of the report and point to major errors in the evaluation, and some of the GRECO conclusions are contrary to the rulings of the Constitutional Court. The Supreme Council of Magistrates appears to oppose several objections raised by the GRECO experts. Under these circumstances the politicians should refrain from any action until the magistrates and experts reach common ground. PSD's stance is as clear as can be: it will no longer raise for discussion any change to the laws of justice and will not engage in such controversy until the representative associations of the Romanian magistrates reach general consensus," reads the release. According to the same source, there are currently 14 European countries, France, Germany and the Netherlands included, which have not yet set the GRECO recommendations into practice, which means that "Romania is definitely not a singular case, as the President suggests." AGERPRES (RO - author: George Onea, editor: Mihai Simionescu; EN - author: Simona Klodnischi, editor: Simona Iacob)