Sorin Grindeanu

Romania's prime minister said on Feb. 4 he was scrapping a decree that would have shielded dozens of politicians from prosecution for corruption, bowing to one of the biggest protests since the fall of Nicolae Ceausescu in 1989. 

Romanian demonstrators welcomed the government's decision to scrap an emergency ordinance party decriminalizing abuse of office.

However, they added protests would continue until the ordinance was repealed.

On Saturday evening, Prime Minister Sorin Grindeanu said authorities had heard and seen "many options" and did not "want to divide Romania".

Sorin Grindeanu, Romania's Prime Minister, announced on Saturday that the cabinet would hold an emergency meeting on Sunday to annul a decree decriminalizing some graft offences.

The head of Romania's ruling Social Democratic Party, PSD, Liviu Dragnea, on Saturday said the cabinet might withdraw an emergency decree that decriminalizes graft-related offences.

The decree approved last Tuesday has triggered the biggest street protests Romania has seen in years, and has also drawn international condemnation as a major step backwards on reforms.

The Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania (UDMR) has opposed the amendment to the Penal Code via emergency government decrees, reported Dnevnik daily.

Protesters against the Social Democratic Party government's decision to relax anti-corruption legislation have planned more large rallies across the country over the weekend, as Prime Minister Sorin Grindeanu's cabinet faced domestic and international pressure to drop the controversial decree that decriminalises abuse of office.

Romania's prime minister insisted Feb. 2 that the government will press ahead with decrees decriminalizing certain corruption offences, defying the country's biggest protests since the end of communism.

Romania's Prime Minister Sorin Grindeanu has announced that his government will continue with its proposals for decriminalising several corruption practices in spite of large-scale protests in the country - the largest in recent history.

"We took a decision in the government and we will move forward," said Grindeanu after a meeting of the Social Democratic Party (PSD).

More than 250,000 Romanians demonstrated on Feb. 1 against a government decree decriminalizing some graft offences, seen as the biggest retreat on reforms since the country joined the European Union in 2007. 

The European Commission asked Romania's centre-left government on Thursday to reconsider relaxing anti-graft criminal legislation, after an estimated 300,000 people took to the streets in 50 cities in what has been deemed the largest protest in Romania in three decades.