At its hearing of 22 February 2023, the Constitutional Court unanimously decided:
1. In the context of the a priori constitutional review, it dismissed, as unfounded, the objection of unconstitutionality raised by Members of the Parliamentary Group of the Save Romania Union and by non-affiliated Members and found that the Law amending and supplementing Law No 50/1991 authorising the execution of construction works, Law No 554/2004 on administrative litigation and supplementing Article 64 of Law No 350/2001 on spatial planning and urban planning was constitutional as compared to the complaints raised.
In essence, the Court found that the claims of the authors of the objection of unconstitutionality were unfounded and that the provisions of the law criticised fully complied with the constitutional requirements arising from Articles 1 (5), 11, 20 (2), 21, 53 and 124 (2) of the Basic Law, read in conjunction with the Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters, signed in Aarhus on 25 June 1998 and ratified by Romania by Law No 86/2000.
2. In the context of the review of Parliament’s resolutions, it upheld the constitutional complaint lodged by the Parliamentary Group of the Alliance for the Unification of Romania in the Senate and found that Parliament Resolution No 35/2022 on the appointment of two members to the Managing Board of the National Council for Combating Discrimination was unconstitutional.
In essence, with regard to the decision of unconstitutionality, the Court observed that two of the members appointed, under Parliament’s Resolution No 35/2022, to the Managing Board of the National Council for Combating Discrimination were not law graduates. This leads to the situation where, out of the 11 members of the Managing Board, 7 members are law graduates and 4 are not.
Having regard to the provisions of Article 23 (4) of Government Ordinance No 137/2000 on the prevention and punishment of all forms of discrimination, according to which “Upon appointment, account must be taken of the fact at least two thirds of the members of the Managing Board must be law graduates.”, the Court held that, by appointing the two members, the lower limit, which, legally, cannot be trespassed, had been infringed by Parliament’s Resolution No 35/2022.
Consequently, the Court found that Parliament’s Resolution No 35/2022 was contrary to Article 23 (4) of Government Ordinance No 137/2000 and thus infringed Article 1 (3) and (5) of the Constitution concerning the obligation to comply with the laws and the rule of law.
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Decisions are final and generally binding.
The arguments substantiating the decisions of the Constitutional Court shall be set out in the decisions, which will be published in the Official Gazette of Romania, Part I.
Department of External Relations, Press and Protocol of the Constitutional Court