There will be no ethnic Hungarian ombudsman, as the former ombudsman dismissed by parliament, Renate Weber, was reinstated and resumed her mandate following a decision by the Romanian Constitutional Court, the transindex.ro news portal reported in a recent piece.
Hunor Kelemen, the president of the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (known by its Hungarian acronym of RMDSZ) as well as one of the deputy prime ministers in the Cîţu cabinet, told the press on Wednesday that the government coalition will not try to dismiss Weber again.
“We didn’t talk about the issue, and we don’t want to talk about it,” Kelemen declared after a government coalition meeting. He added that there is no intention in the coalition to restart the dismissal procedure of the ombudsman. “The Constitutional Court has made a decision, and we accept it. Like it or not, we accept the decisions of state institutions. It would be irresponsible to start this procedure again. We do not recommend this,” said the RMDSZ president.
Kelemen announced in June that government coalition parties have agreed to appoint the Kolozsvár-based university teacher and former prosecutor Gyula Fábián (49) as Romania’s ombudsman. Fábián was nominated by the RMDSZ, while the USR-PLUS party leaders did not seek to nominate anyone for this position during the coalition negotiations. Kelemen’s statement had been corroborated by Ludovic Orban, president of the National Liberal Party, who added that the coalition is backing only one person for the ombudsman role, and that is Gyula Fábián.
At its June 29 meeting, the Constitutional Court unanimously found that the Romanian Parliament’s decision for the revocation of Renate Weber from her position was unconstitutional.
“Since the act of revocation proved to be unconstitutional, it ceases to have legal effect. Therefore, according to Article 147, paragraph (4) of the Constitution, which ensures the generally binding nature of the decisions of the Constitutional Court, starting with the publication of the Court’s decision in the Official Gazette of Romania, Renate Weber resumes office, and continues to exercise her constitutional mandate for which she was appointed by parliament on June 26, 2019,” reads the communiqué of the Constitutional Court, as cited by the g4media news portal. Weber was reinstated in the ombudsman’s position on July 6.
Renate Weber initially took office on June 26, 2019.
Title image: Hunor Kelemen said the coalition accepts the decision of the Constitutional Court, thus they will not try to dismiss the reinstated ombudsman.
Source: Hunor Kelemen/Facebook
