Sorin Grindeanu

Romania's National Anticorruption Directorate, DNA, summoned the Interior Minister to a hearing on Monday as the anti-corruption watchdog continues to investigate how the Social Democrat-led government adopted a decree decriminalizing official misconduct.

As protesters came out onto to the streets of Bucharest on Monday for a 14th consecutive night of anti-government protests, Romania's parliament agreed to hold a referendum on fighting official corruption.

A total of 310 MPs voted in favour of the referendum proposed by President Klaus Iohannis, which is intended to bolster support for the fight against corruption.

Lawmakers in Romania passed on Monday referendum proposal under which citizens will have a say on whether fight against corruption should continue.

The national poll was triggered by President Klaus Iohannis, who openly sided with hundreds of thousands of protesters earlier in February after the government tried to decriminalize certain abuse-of-office cases.

Tens of thousands of Romanian demonstrators formed the flag of their country, gathering on the main square of capital Bucharest on Sunday evening.

Romanians are protesting against the cabinet of Prime Minister Sorin Grindeanu for a 13th night in a row, despite the fact that the government withdrew a controversial emergency decree party decriminalizing corruption.

Romanian citizens protested for a tenth day in a row near the government's building in Bucharest hours after Justice Minister Florin Iordache resigned over the controversial amendments to the Penal Code of the country which he supported and were later repealed, reported the Romanian edition of Business Review, cited by the Focus agency.

The Romanian government has survived the vote of no confidence submitted by the opposition over the controversial decree which caused hundreds of thousands of Romanians to protest in the capital Bucharest and other cities in the last few weeks, reported bTV.

Tens of thousands protested across Romania on Monday evening against the social-democratic government led by Prime Minister Sorin Grindeanu, even after a controversial decree was repealed, local media report.

Romanian Prime Minister Sorin Grindeanu announced Feb. 5 that he will not resign amid nationwide protests that drew an estimated half a million protesters against a recent government decision to decriminalize certain graft offenses. 

Romania's Justice Ministry gave up plans to change the criminal code and decriminalize some graft offences following days of mass protests.

"The ministry is now seeking to draft a bill to change and amend law No 286/2009 regarding the criminal code and law No 135/2010 regarding the criminal procedure code," the ministry said on Monday

Parliament in Romania will deal with both a no-confidence motion against the government and a state budget on Monday, after days of protests against the government.

The motion, filed by the National Liberal Party (PNL) and the Union to Save Romania (USR) will be read at noontime, according to the Romania Insider.