WTH are Romanians protesting? Well it seems their government gave themselves a get out of jail free card without a vote. Wait your telling me a government can give themselves a pass on corruption without the people voicing their opinion with a vote? Never heard of such a thing, that would never happen in the US (yes that’s sarcasm) – PB/TK
Everything to Know About Romania’s Anti-Corruption Protests – Tara John 12:59 PM Eastern
Over the past week, Romania has seen the largest protests since the fall of communism in 1989— when former dictator Nicolae Ceausescu was toppled — over a hastily-imposed decree that would have weakened penalties to corruption. Despite the government agreeing to scrap the contentious decree, an estimated half a million Romanians continued to protest across the country on Sunday. Here’s why:
What were the protests about?
The country’s ruling coalition made a decree — or executive order — on Jan. 31 to decriminalize abuse in office by officials, if the sums involved were less than around $48,500. Ordered without any input from parliament, the decree would have stopped all investigations for pending corruption offences, freed officials imprisoned for corruption, and blocked further investigations related to those offences from being brought to justice.
The coalition government, led by Prime Minister Sorin Grindeanu of the left-wing Social Democratic Party (PSD), argued that these changes were needed to align some laws with the constitution and reduce prison overcrowding. But critics see the decree as an attempt to allow allies of Grindeanu caught in the country’s anti-corruption efforts to escape censure.
Among those who stood to benefit from the decree is president of the PSD, Liviu Dragnea. He is blocked from becoming prime minister due to corruption charges he is currently facing over defrauding the state of around $26,000, BBC reports. The order might have allowed him to stand as the country’s leader.
Continue to time.com article: http://time.com/4660860/romania-protests-corruption-problem/?xid=homepage
