Parliament to convene Wednesday to consider state of alert

Parliament will convene on Wednesday in a joint sitting to vote on a government's decision establishing the state of alert in Romania, according to a decision of a joint meeting of the standing bureaus of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. Parliament's plenary sitting is scheduled to start at 15:00hrs, EEST. The standing bureaus approved on Tuesday a letter from Prime Minister Ludovic Orban under which Parliament is informed about Government Decision No.394 / May 18, 2020 establishing a state of alert and measures that are applied during it to prevent and combat the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the law, the state of alert is established by a decision of the government at the proposal of the interior minister and cannot exceed 30 days, but for justified reasons it can be extended for another 30 days. When the state of alert is established on at least half of the administrative-territorial units of the country, the measure will be condition upon Parliament's approval. Parliament shall decide in a joint sitting of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, within 5 days of the request for approval. If Parliament rejects the request for approval, the alert state shall cease immediately. Parliament may approve the measure adopted by the government as is or amended. AGERPRES (RO - author: Catalina Matei, editor: Georgiana Tanasescu; EN - author: Corneliu-Aurelian Colceriu, editor: Rodica State)