Lawyers: There is "a tooth against" the sabotage of Moldova's President, XXX YYY
The lawyers and the experts say that the Moldovan legislation contains sufficient levers with wich the President XXX YYY, can be put in place so as he will not violate the Constitution as he sees fit. The opinions were expressed in an article of Deschide.MD generated by the incertitude that hangs in the society after YYY released several statements in recent days for refusing to comply with the decisions of the current government and the Constitutional Court. Even if CCM announced the way for signing the decrees on appointment to certain categories of officials, the president hinted that no one can force him to make decisions "unpopular and anti-socialist". The first step in this direction was made yesterday when at least half of the dossiers for the promotion in functions be the president and vice president of the court, filed by the Supreme Court of Moldova (CSM), did not receive the support of the current president.
The Constitutional Court ruled on January 24 that the President can refuse only once - motivated - the Prime Minister's proposal of appointing a person to the vacant position of minister. In turn, the Head of the Executive can make another proposal or can repeat the previous proposal, to which the President, this time, is obliged to act.
"I do not accept "liocishi"[pilots - jargon, editor's note.] at the Ministry of Defense. Munteanu can be submitted at least 10 times, but I will not accept an unprofessional man! Do you want referendum? Come to the referendum! Do you want impeachment, come to the impeachment! You can not make me to accept an unprofessional man!" Stated then, in reply, YYY.
I swear to respect...
"I swear to devote all my strength and skill to the advancement of Moldova, to observe the Constitution and laws of the country, to defend the democracy, the human rights and fundamental freedoms, the sovereignty, the independence, the unity and the territorial integrity of Moldova": with these words started his term presidential XXX YYY on December 23, 2016.
According to the Constitution, the President of Moldova represents the state and the guarantor of national sovereignty, the independence, of the unity and territorial integrity. However, at the same time he stated the refusal to appoint and promote people to positions which he considers "unprofessional" XXX YYY hinders the activity of other state institutions.
More than that, when he said he would refuse to appoint the current Minister of Environment ZZZ BBB on the position of Minister of Defence, stating that he would propose to the Prime Minister a proper candidate in this regard, YYY showed that he is ready to peddle one's papers, i.e. in the activity of the bodies which do not comply, and - as such - to assign themselves powers that are not incumbent them.
I tried to find out what legislative mechanisms that will counteract the intention of sabotage drafted by the President, forcing him due to act strictly in the legal framework. According to lawyers and experts whom we consulted, YYY's behavior and his confidence in the inviolability of the position they are artificial exercises, and the law provides clear action on the president.
"The intention of YYY - publicly announced - not to enforce the decisions of the Constitutional Court, the Superior Judicial Council decisions and resolutions of the Government when he does not agree means, in legal translation, the flagrant violation of the provisions of article 6 of the Constitution on separation and collaboration of powers: "In Moldova the legislative powers, executive and judiciary are separated and cooperate in the exercise of their powers under the Constitution.
The violation of Article 6 of the Constitution is the basis for the Parliament to enforce the power of the correction mechanism of a president quarreled with the Constitution, a mechanism contained in the provisions in Article. 89 of the Constitution, which provides:
1) In case of having committed grave offenses through which infringes upon constitutional provisions, the President may be suspended from office by the vote of the Parliament with a two thirds of the MPs.
2) The proposal of suspension from office may be initiated by at least one third of MPs and, without further delay to the President of the Republic of Moldova.The President may give explanations to the Parliament about the facts he is being held.
3) If the proposal of suspension from office has been approved, within 30 days is organized a referendum on the president's impeachment.
The suspension, if appropriate, of the president would be the evidence of maturity of the parliamentary republic, organizing the referendum would be a verification exercise og capacity of the executive power and the referendum itself would be an examination of social discernment for each of us," said the jurist and lawyer Ion Dron.
The Director of the Resource Centre for Human Rights (CReDO) Sergiu Ostaf believes that the President should not assume additional obligations only because he was directly elected by citizens.
"Moldova is a parliamentary republic, or, more specifically, a change of the parliamentary republic, which, more exactly, is defined as premier-presidential system. In the premier-presidential system, the President's powers are complementary to Parliament. Several distinct powers of the President, such as the appointment of judges by decree or the general prosecutor, of ambassadors or ministers are subject to decisions of specialized autonomous bodies (CSM or CSP) or by the Government, which is the expression of the Parliament legitimacy. The fact that the president is elected by direct vote does not change its responsibilities," he said.
The expert believes that there are two possible solutions to lower the YYY down to earth in concerning the exercise the constitutional powers in the appointment procedure by decree of the functions mentioned or other political functions (primary role at Prime Minister) or public functions (primary role of autonomous bodies).
"The first is managing the situation by regulating alternative procedure for overcoming the refusal of appointment by decree and second solution is to initiate proceedings for the suspension of the president for not complying with the Constitution. A second solution is one that involves a high degree of political confrontation and substantial costs to society. This solution may take some measures to prevent, to force, such as limited financial resources of the President for failure to exercise the constitutional functions, but also - very important - finding the constitutional procedure and, where applicable, the judiciary, abuse of formal procedures and Constitution. Repeated and systematic findings of the Constitution can serve necessary and sufficient reason for the impeachment procedure of the President and subsequently as appropriate for dismissal. The first solution is pragmatic, with a lesser degree of political confrontation, which has fewer costs to society. This would mean legislating exceptional procedures to overcome the refusal of the President to exercise the constitutional functions of appointment by decree," said Ostaf.
However, it seems that is not much time left to see how much respect has XXX YYY towards the Constitution and laws of the Republic of Moldova and the reactions of the Prime Minister and Speaker of Parliament, which presumably the populist statements made by YYY started to bore them worse.
The depersonalization of the articles are part of the campaign against abusive and erroneous interpretation of the law on protection of personal data.