Senate Chairman Mircea Abrudean said on Monday that the National Liberal Party (PNL) will initiate a new plan to cut the MP seats in Romania’s Chamber of Deputies to 300, noting that he does not know if the one submitted by the Save Romania Union (USR) is the best from a legal point of view.
„PNL obviously supports this approach [a Parliament of 300 MPs] most likely under a different bill, because the bill pending in Parliament, I think submitted by my colleagues from USR, has several options, but I don’t know if it is the best done from a legal point of view. I understand from my fellow lawyers that a clearer bill would be needed from this point of view, which, most likely, PNL will initiate,” Abrudean said.
He added that the bill will include downsizing the Chamber of Deputies to 300 MP seats and a bicameral parliament as the share of national minorities will be taken into account to be properly represented.
„There are some discussions at the moment, we have not yet clarified the final form of such a bill. We will also discuss with minorities and come to a conclusion. But, as an idea: PNL remains consistent with what it has proposed since the beginning of Mr Bolojan’s term of office namely the referendum is a discussion about why for 16 years no one has done anything to implement what the people want,” Abrudean said.
Asked if the future Legislature will have 300 MPs, Abrudean said that there is such a probability.
„From the PNL’s perspective, we will do what we said we would do. Further, of course, it is not only up to PNL, after all, but I think it is a matter of consistency and, in the end, the fact that we have a very high degree of people’s distrust in the state institutions and in the political class, comes precisely from this that we do not really do what we are committed to doing.”
USR is supporting a bill on reducing the number of MP seats to 300 and will oppose the extension of the deadline for its debate, USR Senate floor leader Stefan Palaire informed on Monday.
In May, USR MPs Cristina Pruna and Claudiu Nasui announced having submitted to Parliament a bill that provides for the reduction of the number of MP seats to 300 from a current 464. The bill is being considered by the specialist committees of the Senate. AGERPRES
