19 NGOs ask for a public debate on the final draft bill for revising the Constitution
19 NGOs ask for a public debate on the final draft bill for revising the Constitution
03.02.14
The signatory organizations ask the Joint Committee of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate in charge with drafting the revised Constitution of Romania to use the good practices provided by Law no. 52/2003 on transparency and to place the current form of the draft Constitution under public debate, for at least 30 days after publication.
The current form of the draft law, including observations from both the Legislative Council and the Venice Commission, has not been published. So the public only has access to a series of clandestine and unverified versions.
Since this is not some secret weapon, but a draft law to review the national constitution, the signatory organizations consider that keeping it secret and refusing public debate is totally unjustified.
The signatories remind that the principles of transparency and public consultation are essential to the normal functioning of a democratic society. Therefore, they ask the Parliament to observe these crucial principles of a state of law and place the updated draft Constitution in front of the society, for a real debate.
The Association for the Defence of Human Rights in Romania – Helsinki Committee
(APADOR-CH)
Romani CRISS
Spiritual Militia Civic Movement
EPAS Association
LADO Timiş
The Resource Center for Public Participation – CeRe
The Association for Technology and the Internet – ApTI
TERRA Mileniul III
The National Alliance of Student Organizations in Romania – ANOSR
The Agency for Community Development “Impreuna” (“Together”)
The Center for Independent Journalism
ActiveWatch – Press Monitoring Agency
The SOROS Foundation
The National Association of Citizen Counseling Offices – ANBCC
The Romanian Center for European Policies – CRPE
The Raţiu Center for Democracy
ACCEPT Association
The Ecopolis Center for Sustainable Policies
The Romanian Group for the Defence of Human Rights – GRADO