Romania's Govt. suspends transparency by emergency ordinance

Romania’s Government has adopted an emergency ordinance (OUG 34/2020) that suspends some of the legal norms regarding the decision-making transparency and social dialogue prior to the enactment of new legislation during the state of emergency, the Concordia Employers' Confederation warns.

The Confederation emphasizes that this can seriously undermine the trust between the state and the citizens, indispensable in this period of crisis.

“Under these conditions, not only the fundamental social partnership between the Government, employers, unions and civil society is affected, but this also represents an invitation for the other institutions to act in the same manner. There is a real danger of interrupting the collaboration with both the executive and the legislative and local authorities, on certain projects that are not urgent, which can lead to serious slippages and result in regulations drafted under non-transparent conditions,” said Concordia representatives.

According to Concordia, the OUG opens the door for any normative act related to the COVID-19 pandemic - that is, a large part of the normative acts to be passed over the coming period - being exempted from mandatory endorsement by the Economic and Social Council or from other forms of decision-making transparency.

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(Photo source: Gov.ro)