Constitution of Romania
Constitution of Romania | |
---|---|
Created | 21 November 1991 |
Ratified | 8 December 1991 |
Author(s) | Antonie Iorgovan et al. |
Purpose | To replace the Communist 1965 constitution |
Full text | |
Constitution of Romania at Wikisource |
The current Constitution of Romania is the seventh permanent constitution in modern Romania's history. It is the fundamental governing document of Romania that establishes the structure of its government, the rights and obligations of citizens, and its mode of passing laws. It stands as the basis of the legitimacy of the Romanian government. Adopted on 21 November 1991, it was approved on 8 December 1991 in a national referendum and promulgated on the same day.
The constitution was amended once by a referendum on 18 October 2003. The new text took effect on 29 October 2003.
Structure
The Constitution of 1991, as revised in 2003, contains 156 articles, divided into 8 titles:
- Title I - General principles
- Title II - Fundamental rights, liberties, and duties
- Title III - Public authorities
- Title IV - The economy and public finance
- Title V - Constitutional Court
- Title VI - Euro-Atlantic integration
- Title VII - Revising the Constitution
- Title VIII - Final and transitional provisions
Background
This section needs additional citations for verification. (December 2021) |
The
The monarchy was abolished in 1947. In March 1948, the
Initial version (1991)
The 1991 Constitution was composed by a committee of parliamentarians and constitutional law specialists; was approved by
First revision (2003)
The 1991 Constitution was
Proposed second revision
The issue of constitutional reform was raised repeatedly in the early 2010s, especially after a major political crisis in the second half of 2012. The ruling coalition at the time, the Social Liberal Union, claimed that insufficient constitutional constraints led then-incumbent President Traian Băsescu to abuse his presidential powers, thus justifying new amendments. A public debate began in 2013 and a Parliamentary Commission for the Revision of the Constitution was established. However, the reform project stalled as the Social Liberal Union dissolved in early 2014 and Băsescu ended his term later that year.[8]
Băsescu's successor, Klaus Iohannis, expressed support for a second revision of the Constitution, as did Prime Minister Victor Ponta, who stated that such a revision should be a political priority in 2015, as there are no elections scheduled in Romania that year.[9][10] On 18 January 2015, the vice-president of the Parliamentary Commission, Valeria Schelean, requested the immediate convocation of the commission to begin working on amendments.[11]
2018 referendum
On 6 and 7 October 2018 a referendum took place regarding the definition of the family as provided by Article 48 of the Constitution (that defines the family as being founded on the free-willed marriage "between spouses"), to prohibit same-sex marriage. The referendum failed as the turnout was only 21.1%, below the required voter turnout threshold of 30%.
See also
Former constitutions
- First Constitution of Romania (1866)
- Second Constitution of Romania (1923)
- Third Constitution of Romania (1938)
- Fourth Constitution of Romania (1948)
- Fifth Constitution of Romania (1952)
- Sixth Constitution of Romania (1965)
References
- ^ Constantin C. Giurescu, Istoria Bucureștilor. Din cele mai vechi timpuri pînă în zilele noastre, Ed. Pentru Literatură, Bucharest, 1966, p. 123. (in Romanian)
- ^ Stevan K. Pavlowitch, Istoria Balcanilor, Polirom, Iași, 2002 (translation of the English-language edition A History of The Balkans 1804–1945, Addison Wesley Longman Ltd., 1999), p. 56.
- ^ a b Mihaela Cristina Verzea, "Constituția RPR din 27 septembrie 1952" ("1952: The Constitution of People's Republic of Romania"), Dosarele Istoriei, 8/2003, pp. 22-26
- ^ OCLC 299959363.
- ^ "Constitute". www.constituteproject.org. Retrieved 2020-05-19.
- ^ Mirela Luca, "Opoziția acuză ca referendumul pentru Constituție a fost fraudat" ("The Opposition Charges that the Constitutional Referendum was Rigged")[permanent dead link], Ziarul Financiar, October 21, 2003.
- ^ "Grave incalcări ale legii și nereguli organizatorice, produse la scară națională, cu ocazia referendumului din 18 - 19 octombrie" ("Serious violations of the law and organisational irregularities, produced on a nationwide scale, on the occasion of the referendum of 18 - 19 October 2003") Archived 25 November 2009 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Mai este oportună revizuirea Constituției?". Retrieved 22 January 2015.
- ^ "Ponta: Modificarea Constituției trebuie să devină o prioritate în 2015, an fără presiuni electorale". Mediafax. 8 December 2014. Retrieved 22 January 2015.
- ^ "Klaus Iohannis: Revizuirea Constituției trebuie făcută în perioada următoare. Sunt și texte care au permis interpretări forțate". Digi24. 8 December 2014. Retrieved 22 January 2015.
- ^ "Vicepreședintele comisiei pentru revizuirea Constituției Valeria Schelean(PNL) cere convocarea rapidă a lucrărilor comisiei". Evenimentul Zilei. 18 January 2015. Retrieved 22 January 2015.
External links
- (in Romanian) The Constitution of Romania, official untranslated version
- (in English) The Constitution of Romania, official English translation
- (in French) The Constitution of Romania, official French translation
- (in Romanian) The Constitution of Romania, 1991 version
- (in English) The Constitution of Romania, 1991 version in English
- (in French) The Constitution of Romania, 1991 version in French