House rejects motion against Justice Minister

The simple motion that the USR and PNL tabled against Justice Minister Tudorel Toader was rejected by the House on Wednesday, after it was read during the plenary session on Tuesday evening. The Opposition asked the Justice Minister to resign, labelling him a “grade-4 minister.” The motion was rejected with 171 votes against, 99 in favour, and 5 abstentions. Prior to the motion being read, the Justice Minister stated that its signatories are probably the fans of the Soviet 1-5 grading scale. Likewise, during the plenary session, the Minister posted on Facebook a photograph of his son Teodor and his partner. During his speech before the House, Tudorel Toader called for normality, saying that this means that a citizen should not be indicted unjustly. He was also sarcastic, stating that the person evaluating someone should have at least the same professional rank as the person being evaluated, referring to House lawmaker Stelian Ion (USR). At the end of his speech, Toader said that a person can stay in prison unjustly for several years but the state cannot say it was a mistake, because the independence of the judiciary principle is being invoked all the time. “I want to remind you the following thing, and if you use minimum empathy you will concede the point: think of those who were under the spotlight on Stirbei Voda, they were in prison for years and then they were told the offence does not exist. You’re telling a person they spent one night, one month, one year, seven years in prison for nothing, but we say independence of the judiciary, we can’t say a mistake was made, he should go to the ECHR,” Toader stated in Parliament. After the plenary, PSD leader Liviu Dragnea stated that Social Democratic lawmakers will vote as their consciences dictate. Asked whether he takes the chances of seeing the motion pass, he said: “I can never twist the arms of PSD House lawmakers.” They will vote “in line with their own conscience,” Dragnea stated, referring to the PSD House lawmakers’ vote on the censure motion. “I’m not giving them suggestions regarding Mr Toader, because others kept doing that. Some say he should leave, others say he must stay, so I said it’s better that my colleagues judge and vote,” the PSD leader replied. Asked whether he takes responsibility in case the motion passes, he said: “I can never twist the arm of PSD House lawmakers.” Against the backdrop of Government reshuffle talks, Justice Minister Tudorel Toader has been the only one intensely mentioned, Tariceanu stating that he is “a very good minister, who has results, who has raised the office’s dignity very high, at unprecedented levels.” PSD leader Liviu Dragnea sarcastically stated: “Mr Tariceanu says Mr Toader must remain member of Government. Mr Iohannis says he must leave. We have a big dilemma within the party. We will express ourselves, we must weigh very well. We’re talking about two poignant personalities in Romanian politics and PSD must weigh.” Moreover, he said that Tudorel Toader was not a topic within the PSD, the idea that he must be kept within the Government appearing on the part of ALDE. “A problem has been invented where there was no problem, and we must solve it,” Dragnea pointed out. He claimed that he will express his opinion on this topic within the party. Asked whether she is pleased with Tudorel Toader’s activity, Dancila said: “It’s not about how pleased or displeased I am. We are talking about some criteria here, about a roadmap, we’ll see that roadmap, the tasks he had to fulfil, and then I will present within the ExCom and I will take a decision.”