Romania’s premier attends EU summit despite court ruling
AFP/Bucharest
Romania’s left-wing Prime Minister Victor Ponta went to Brussels yesterday to attend the EU summit despite a court ruling that President Traian Basescu should attend such meetings.
The two men have been at odds since Ponta’s centre-left coalition took office in May after the former centre-right government fell on a no-confidence vote.
Romania’s constitutional court ruled on Wednesday that the president, as head of state, should take part in European Council meetings.
But the decision was criticised by Ponta, who called into question the legitimacy of the judges appointed by the centre-right Basescu.
In Brussels, Ponta told Romanian reporters that he would “always abide by the court’s rulings” and called on Basescu to “settle their disputes through an institutional way”.
But in a press conference organised in Bucharest, Basescu accused Ponta of preventing him from performing his constitutional duties.
“Ponta does not legitimately represent Romania at the EU summit,” he said.
Basescu explained he had decided to stay home to avoid putting European leaders in a difficult position by forcing them to arbitrate on a domestic dispute.
He slammed as “anti-democratic” Ponta’s attack against the constitutional court and threats by justice minister Titus Corlatean to dismiss two of the judges.
In a press release, the court said that “any form of political pressure exerted by the government could seriously hurt (its) activity”.
