February 21 (SeeNews) - Romanian liberal party PNL and the Save Romania Union USR have filed a censure motion against justice minister Tudorel Toader over an emergency decree amending justice laws, which was issued by the governing coalition earlier this week, parliament said.
In their motives for the motion, PNL and USR say that some of the changes introduced by the decree run against the Constitution and that they do not serve the public interest but the interests of the ruling coalition of the left-wing Social Democrat Party (PSD) and centre-right Liberal-Democrat Alliance (ALDE) instead, the text of the motion published on the parliament's website showed.
The motion was submitted to parliament on Tuesday evening, data from the lower house of parliament showed.
It must be debated within six days after it was filed with parliament.
PSD and ALDE control among themselves 244 of the 465 seats in parliament.
The controversial decree, seen by its critics as jeopardising the independence of the judiciary, stipulates that high-level prosecuting units cannot be managed by an interim for more than 45 days. The change targets the deadlock at Romania's anti-corruption agency DNA, which has been led by an interim for several months following the dismissal of Laura Kovesi.
President Klaus Iohannis has repeatedly refused to appoint Adina Florea as head of DNA, saying the law prohibits the appointment in key positions of magistrates who were part of the intelligence services or who might have personal interests influencing their decisions and activity.
The decree issued on Tuesday also removes the prosecutor general's control over the special prosecuting unit tasked with investigating the ousted DNA head Kovesi. The investigation started at the same time when she was nominated for the position of chief of the European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO). Since the nomination of Kovesi was announced, Toader has said he would do everything legally possible to prevent her from getting the job.
The emergency decree also provides for the start of an internal selection for three candidates for the EPPO job which should be completed by end-March.
The decree drew fire from the European Commission, which said it is greatly concerned about its effects.
This is the second time PNL and USR file a censure motion against Toader. In October, a motion filed against Toader for issuing a very generous offence pardoning law did not succeed because it did not get enough votes in parliament.