August 27, 2021
The Bill, Published Piece by Piece
From today I shall publish here fragments from #TheSovereigntyLaw and from its Statement of Reasons.
After 8 months of consultation and common labour upon this bill, after 20 versions and dozens of hours of discussion, this is the result of our work:
Bill: “the Sovereignty Law —
the Law for the protection of the superior and sovereign interest of the Romanian people and citizen”
(Preamble)
Starting from the constitutional principle according to which national sovereignty belongs to the Romanian people, and likewise from the need for greater involvement of the Romanian citizen in the decision-making and legislative process through the implementation of the principle of participatory democracy, by the exercise of the right of legislative initiative by at least 100,000 citizens with the right to vote, in accordance with art. 5(1) of Law no. 24/2000 on the norms of legislative technique for the drafting of normative acts, in conjunction with the provisions of art. 74(1) of the Constitution of Romania, republished,
starting from the necessity of adopting a law that guarantees and strengthens the sovereignty of the Romanian State, regulated by article 1(1) of the Constitution of Romania, republished, through the implementation of necessary and urgent measures in various fields liable to affect national sovereignty — understood both as the right of the nation to identity and self-determination and as a state of law conforming to the constitutional order,
having regard to the necessity of guaranteeing and strengthening the fundamental rights of the citizen by establishing norms that make it impossible to limit, delay or evade parliamentary scrutiny of normative acts providing for limitations, restrictions or conditions upon fundamental rights and liberties, as well as to the necessity of repealing the legal provisions in force that make such unconstitutional limitations possible,
bearing in mind the indications and conclusions of the Resolution of the European Parliament of 13 November 2020 on the impact of COVID-19 measures on democracy, the rule of law and fundamental rights (2020/2790(RSP)) in the member states, among them Romania,
and likewise bearing in mind the imperative character of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Dignity of the Human Being with regard to the Application of Biology and Medicine — the Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine, signed at Oviedo on 4 April 1997 — and of the Additional Protocol to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Dignity of the Human Being with regard to the Application of Biology and Medicine, on the Prohibition of Cloning Human Beings, signed at Paris on 12 January 1998, ratified by Law no. 17 of 22 February 2001, and of the Convention of 26 November 1968 on the Non-Applicability of Statutory Limitations to War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity, adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on 26 November 1968, as well as of the necessity of implementing these conventions directly and immediately in national legislation, with the effect of prohibiting explicitly and without distinction the compulsory administration of any treatments and/or medical devices, and of prohibiting any form of discrimination as a consequence of accepting or refusing any treatments and/or medical devices,
having regard to the fact that the protection of human dignity rests upon the idea that man is an intellectual and moral being inclined to determine himself and to develop in freedom, and likewise that the inalienable dignity of man consists precisely in the necessity that his standing as a responsible person be respected,
taking into consideration the necessity of strengthening the rule of law by observing legality and constitutionality through the direct, non-discriminatory and immediate implementation of the decisions of the Constitutional Court; having regard to the necessity of rendering transparent the decision-making process of the administration by publishing all acts of general interest and placing them in full and free of charge at the disposal of citizens through the care of the Official Gazette of Romania; to the guaranteeing of freedom of expression in the online environment; as well as to the need for parliamentary representation of as large a proportion as possible of the Romanian citizens with the right to vote,
taking into consideration the disastrous ecological situation at national level, and likewise the drastic diminution of the national forest fund caused by the massive and irrational clearances and clear-cuttings of the last 30 years, as well as the necessity of prohibiting the abusive and excessive exploitation of the forests for the purpose of rebuilding and regenerating the national forest fund, and also the need for an immediate and total prohibition of the export of unprocessed timber and of the import of waste,
bearing in mind the obligation to conserve the national patrimony, and likewise the need to maximise, for the Romanian citizen, the profitability of the exploitation of the riches held in public ownership, with the consequence of criminalising any deeds that have the effect of diminishing the national wealth,
having regard to the low degree of transparency of the decision-making process within the public institutions of Romania,
taking into consideration the necessity of defending the whole national territory by the whole people on a voluntary basis, as well as the need to acquire new, latest-generation military equipment directly from the manufacturer and exclusively in observance of the national legislation governing Offset in the field of military procurement,
bearing in mind the decisions of the Constitutional Court on the constitutionality of certain provisions in criminal and criminal-procedural matters, and in other social fields as well,
having regard to the fact that the more than 100,000 citizens’ signatures in favour of the present legislative initiative constitute a sound argument for the observance of the will of the Romanian people and of its sovereignty,
The Parliament of Romania adopts the present law:
(…)
Statement of Reasons
Section 1 — Title of the draft normative act
“the Sovereignty Law —
the Law for the protection of the superior and sovereign interest of the Romanian people and citizen”
Section 2 — Reason for issuing the normative act
Description of the present situation
In recent years, and above all in the last year and a half following the appearance of the SARS-COV2 virus, a series of norms have been adopted in Romanian legislation which run counter — whether individually or taken as a whole — to the spirit and the letter of the Constitution of Romania, republished. This state of fact and of law is such as gravely and directly to affect the sovereignty of the Romanian State regulated by article 1(1) of the Constitution, sovereignty being understood both as the right of the nation to identity and self-determination and as a state of law conforming to the constitutional order.
The reaction to the situation of stress to which the Romanian State and citizen have been subjected as a result of the pandemic condition, from March 2020 to the present, in economic as well as in social terms, has revealed a series of dysfunctions at the level of the institutions of the Romanian State such as to affect national sovereignty directly, fundamentally and irreversibly.
Not least, according to the conclusions of the Resolution of the European Parliament of 13 November 2020 on the impact of COVID-19 measures on democracy, the rule of law and fundamental rights (2020/2790(RSP)), it follows that in Romania too advantage was taken of deficient legislation which leaves room for lapses dangerous to the rights and liberties of the Romanian citizen, to sustainable economic and social development, and also to the coherence and correct functioning of the security institutions of Romania — which resulted in the breach of constitutional rights and liberties.
What is more, in adopting restrictive measures by laws and normative acts for the management of the crisis generated by the COVID-19 pandemic, the authorities in Romania never observed the principle of proportionality with the forecast or manifest level of gravity of the crisis, nor the principle of the non-discriminatory application of those restrictive measures — principles expressly laid down by article 53(2) of the Constitution of Romania for the restriction of the exercise of certain rights or freedoms.
In the light of the above, the immediate necessity of the present legislative initiative follows, with a view to remedying the situation described.
The normal and immediate solution is to legislate a single regulation that corrects the state of law described above, by concentrating and implementing precise measures designed to consolidate the national sovereignty belonging to the Romanian people. The internal and international economic, social and political developments of recent years have had the effect of markedly undermining the sovereignty of the Romanian people.
Popular sovereignty is the right of a people to decide its own future and to establish the priorities of the State, its organisation and functioning, as well as the right of the people to control the activity of the State.
Under article 2(2) of the Constitution of Romania, republished, “National sovereignty belongs to the Romanian people…”
Present-day reality shows that the rigours of the Constitution are no longer to be found in the quality of life of Romania’s citizens.
The suppression of popular sovereignty and the chaos existing in the relations between the three powers — legislative, executive and judicial — annuls the concept of constitutional democracy and contributes to the invalidation of the Social Contract existing between the people and its authorities.
Thus, the Romanian people can no longer dispose sovereignly of the natural, material and human resources existing on the territory of the country; the authorities institute abusive medical measures against their own citizens; the electoral process is systematically defrauded; and the intelligence services are no longer in the service of the Romanian people.
For these reasons, and not least in order to restore to the people the sovereignty guaranteed by the Constitution, certain legislative amendments have become necessary, as well as the introduction of new legal norms whereby sovereignty is regulated and imposed far more explicitly.
2. Envisaged changes
The Sovereignty Law has as its sole object of regulation the restoration of sovereignty and of the rule of law, as these are provided for by article 1(1) of the Constitution of Romania. The singleness of the regulation in the matter of national sovereignty takes concrete form in amendments to certain regulations in connected fields, indispensable to the achievement of the purpose pursued.
These amendments constitute the means by which sovereignty and the rule of law in Romania are consolidated. The bill starts from the constitutional rigour according to which sovereignty belongs to the Romanian people, and that this rests upon four pillars:
1) the strengthening and guaranteeing of the rights and liberties of the citizen, as well as of the sovereignty and security of the Romanian State,
2) the protection and securing of a healthy environment allowing the citizen’s development and normal life,
3) the maximisation of the benefits obtained by the citizen from the country’s natural riches and, generally, from the economic environment, seen as means of socio-economic development, and
4) the consolidation of the national defence system — a system to be made more effective and subordinated exclusively to the will of the people, having as its sole purpose the guaranteeing of the sovereignty, independence and unity of the State, of the territorial integrity of the country and of constitutional democracy, in observance of the provisions of art. 118 of the Constitution of Romania.
(…)
TO BE CONTINUED.
Post scriptum:
If you agree with the principles promoted by the Sovereignty Law, sign up as a volunteer in the #ArmyOfSovereignty at http://VremSuveranitate.ro/ !
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