I. On 25 November 2020, the Plenum of the Constitutional Court, within the a priori constitutional review, issued the following decisions:
1. It unanimously upheld the objection of unconstitutionality filed by Deputies belonging to the Parliamentary Group of the National Liberal Party and found that the Law amending and supplementing Framework Law No 153/2017 regarding the salaries of the staff paid from public funds was unconstitutional as a whole.
When delivering this solution, the Court held, in essence, that the law subject to review had been adopted in violation of the principle of bicameralism, enshrined by Article 61 (2) of the Constitution. Given that this same regulatory act schedules additional expenditure from the State budget, Parliament’s notification by the Government should have been requested, on the one hand and, on the other hand, the funding source should have been established, in compliance with the requirements of the second phrase of Article 111 (1) and, respectively, of Article 138 (5) of the Basic Law.
2. By a majority vote, it dismissed, as groundless, the objection of unconstitutionality filed by Deputies belonging to the Parliamentary Group of the National Liberal Party and found that the Law amending and supplementing Law No 76/2002 on the unemployment insurance system and the stimulation of employment was constitutional in relation to the pleas filed.
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The arguments retained as grounds for the solutions delivered by the Plenum of the Constitutional Court shall be presented in the decisions, which are final and generally binding, to be published in the Official Gazette of Romania, Part I.
II. During the same sitting, the Court ordered the postponement, for 13 January 2021, of the cases referring to the unconstitutionality of the following laws adopted, but not yet promulgated:
1. Law amending and supplementing Law No 337/2007 on the Chambers of Commerce of Romania
2. Law approving Government Emergency Ordinance No 135/2020 regarding the rectification of the State budget for 2020, amending a series of regulatory acts and establishing a series of budgetary measures
3. Law approving Government Emergency Ordinance No 136/2020 regarding the rectification of the State social security budget for 2020
External Relations, Press and Protocol Department of the Constitutional Court