Romanian gov't under great pressure after amending criminal law

The Romanian government faced heavy pressure on Wednesday, with the head of state, oppositions and street protesters demanding to repeal freshly adopted emergency ordinance on Criminal Codes.

Romanian President Klaus Iohannis wrote to Prime Minister Sorin Grindeanu asking him to repeal the emergency ordinance adopted late Tuesday on amending Criminal Codes, redefining and partially decriminalizing the abuse of office offenses.

In the parliament, main opposition National Liberal Party and Save Romania Union parliamentarians submitted a censure motion entitled "Grindeanu Government -- the Government of National Defiance. Do not legalize theft in Romania".

"This is the legal, institutional solution for the resignation of the government and also the solution to get to snap elections," said interim Liberal leader Raluca Turcan.

Turcan stressed that her party firmly supports all the demarches of President Klaus Iohannis for defending the rule of law.

The minor opposition group of the People's Movement Party announced to join the demarche.

Meanwhile, over 100,000 persons, according to some Gendarmerie sources, protested on Wednesday evening at Victoria Square in Bucharest, in front of the government headquarters.

Protests have also been seen in other big cities throughout the country.

The coalition government on Tuesday unexpectedly adopted an emergency ordinance on amending Criminal Codes.

The opposition complained the changes to the criminal law would likely decriminalize abuse-of-power offences committed by government officials.

source: Xinhua