Romania repeals corruption decree amid mass protests

On Sunday, the government backed down following six days of street protests from an emergency ordinance that would decriminalize abuse in office by officials if the amount involved was less than about $48,500.

Prime Minister Sorin Grindeanu’s cabinet held an emergency meeting to scrap the decree on Sunday as tens of thousands of demonstrators outside chanted “Thieves, thieves” and “Resignation, Resignation”.

“In the case of abuse of power, public procurement contracts could be split into smaller sums and awarded separately”, said Livia Saplacan, spokeswoman for Romania’s anti-corruption prosecution unit, the DNA, before the withdrawal of the decree.

The government said it would align the penal code with the constitution but protesters saw it as a brazenly transparent attempt by the ruling Social Democrats (PSD) to let off many of its own officials and lawmakers.

The country’s constitutional court is still scheduled to rule on the legality of the original decree.

Protester Florin Varlan, 42, said Thursday evening that he would continue to protest, after Dragnea “came out today and showed he understood nothing”.

The decree has triggered some of the biggest nationwide demonstrations since Communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu was overthrown in an uprising that ended with his death and his wife by firing squad on Christmas Day 1989.

Dragnea is barred from holding political office because of an electoral fraud conviction and is viewed by many as the real power behind Grindeanu’s government.

However, news of the decree soon spread, leading to mass demonstrations across Romania.

“I don’t want to divide Romania“, he said.

That push saw nearly 2,000 people convicted for abuse of power between 2014 and 2016, and a serving prime minister, five ministers, 16 lawmakers and five senators go on trial. “This government is organised from the high level to the low like a mafia, and we don’t want something like this”, a protester, Profira Popo, told the AP.

“The government wants to legalise white collar crime, which is really insidious”, Sergiu, 43, a bank employee venting his anger at Bucharest’s Victory Square, the epicentre of the protests.

Earlier this week Brussels, which had previously praised European Union member Romania for its efforts on graft, warned against “backtracking”.

Asked if the Cabinet, in power for less than a month, planned to withdraw the decree, Mr Grindeanu said: “No, we don’t”. Grindeanu said the 200,000 lei threshold that sparked fury may be dropped in talks with parties and he’s considering whether to fire the justice minister, whose communication he criticized as “poor”. In the past two years, they’ve sent more than 1,000 people to trial, seeking to recover damages in excess of 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion).