APADOR-CH protests the decision of the Constitutional Court that allows the arbitrary dissolution of non-governmental organizations

APADOR-CH protests the decision taken by the Constitutional Court on February 5, 2014, with a majority of votes, regarding the Law for the amendment of Government Ordinance no. 26/2000 on associations and foundations. The Association considers that such a decision can only be explained by the politicized structure of the Court.

The surprising decision by the Constitutional Court allows for the arbitrary dissolution of associations and foundations which were legally created, by court judgment, some of them many years ago, but which bear a name that no longer pleases the current Parliament.

Following this decision, one question arises: how can associations and foundations continue their activity, attract new members, apply for funding and develop as organizations if they have no assurance that they will continue to exist. Now they can be dissolved at any moment, for reasons related to their process of creation (their name), although a court of law has irrevocably decided that their creation, including the name, was in full compliance with the law.

APADOR-CH considers that a such a decision, taken with a majority of votes and prone to seriously threaten the activity of non-governmental organizations, can only be explained by the politicized structure of the Constitutional Court . According to the current Constitution, the Court is not made up only of judges, but also of legal experts named by the various political parties or with political connections. For that reason, it is reasonable to suppose that the relation/conflict between the various political forces who named members of the Court could prevent a strictly technical and impartial analysis of legal matters raised by the constitutional challenge.

We must remind that during 2013, in its motivated proposals for the review of the Constitution (as submitted to the Constitutional Forum and the special parliamentary committee), APADOR-CH constantly maintained that the Constitutional Court needed to be reformed by creating a distinct section, made up exclusively of judges, to solve constitutional challenges – since they refer to matters which are strictly legal, not political.

Other matters regarding the applicability of the Constitution have a mainly political nature and can be solved by a different section, which could be made up of legal experts named by the various political entities.

The proposals submitted by APADOR-CH on the review of the Constitution, including a reform of the Constitutional Court , may be found here .

APADOR-CH asks the Government to use the solution of an emergency ordinance, as it has often done before, in much less critical situations, in order to abrogate Article II of the Law for the amendment of Government Ordinance no. 26/2000 on associations and foundations – the article stipulating the arbitrary dissolution of non-governmental organizations.

Maria-Nicoleta Andreescu
APADOR-CH executive director
0733.078.721