Romania’s Senate and Chamber of Deputies start today their second ordinary parliamentary session of the year, according to Agerpres.

Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies Marcel Ciolacu and interim Senate Chair Alina Gorghiu have decided to convene the plenary sessions of the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies at 11:00hrs.

According to the schedule, the standing bureau of the Chamber of Deputies and that of the Senate are called to convene at 09:30hrs in their old composition in separate meetings. The parliamentary floor groups will meet at 10:00hrs.

The plenary sittings of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate will take place separately from 11:00hrs.

According to the regulations, on the first day of the parliamentary session, in the plenary sitting of each chamber, the members of the standing bureau are elected – the vice-chairs, secretaries and treasurer of the Chamber of Deputies, with the exception of the speaker, who is elected at the beginning of the legislature.

The election of the leaders of the two Chambers is done at the proposal of the parliamentary groups, in accordance with their share given by the political configuration of each chamber of Parliament and the negotiation of floor leaders. The lists of candidates to the standing bureaus are fully subject to the vote of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate and are approved by the open vote of the majority of the MPs or senators in attendance.

At the same time, a joint meeting of the two standing bureaus is scheduled for today at 09:00hrs. The joint plenary session of Parliament is set after the completion of procedures for electing the leadership of the two chambers.

At the end, there will be meetings of the standing bureaus in their new composition to establish the agenda and the work schedule for next week.

Among the priorities of the parliamentary session is a package of education laws, as well as amending justice legislation, the Criminal Code and the Code of Criminal Procedure.

At the same time, another priority of the session is the adoption of a package of security laws, according to the national leader of the National Liberal Party (PNL), Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca.

The lawmakers will also decide on a request for re-examination of the law on the protection of whistleblowers in public interest filed by President Klaus Iohannis.

Another item on the agenda is measures to be approved by the government by emergency ordinance regarding energy price subsidies.

Several bills on social themes are also expected to be discussed in the governing coalition and that could be submitted to Parliament. The Hungarian Democratic Union of Romania (UDMR) has filed a bill on state aid for wood heating.

The Social Democratic Party (PSD) has suggested an increase in the minimum state pension, the value of the pension computation point and the minimum wage.

The Save Romania Union (USR) has announced it will table a simple motion against Energy Minister Virgil Popescu on the first day of the parliamentary session.

Agerpres