Romanian minister resigns after huge anti-graft protest

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A Romanian cabinet minister resigned on Thursday, testing the stability of the month-old leftist-led government after 250,000 people came out in protest over a decree that could effectively amnesty dozens of officials accused of corruption.

People demonstrate in front of Romanian government headquarters against a controversial decree to pardon corrupt politicians and decriminalize other offences in Bucharest, Romania on January 31, 2017. /CFP Photo

Critics say decriminalizing a number of graft offences marks the most significant retreat on anti-corruption reforms since Romania joined the European Union in 2007.

Florin Jianu, Romania's minister of business, trade and entrepreneurship, announced via Facebook that he was resigning.

It is the "ethical thing to do," he said, "not for my professional honesty, my conscience is clean on that front, but for my child".

"How am I going to look him in the eye and what am I going to tell him over the years?" he wrote. "Am I going to tell him his father was a coward and supported actions he does not believe in, or that he chose to walk away from a story that isn't his?"

Romanian riot police defend the government headquarters during a protest against the new Romanian government's passing of an executive order to pardon prisoners during a rally in Bucharest, Romania on February 2, 2017. /CFP Photo

Prime Minister Sorin Grindeanu has shown no sign of giving ground, but a vice president of the ruling Social Democrat Party (PSD), Mihai Chirica, urged the government on Thursday to withdraw the decree.

President Klaus Iohannis, a former leader of the opposition center-right Liberal Party, followed Romania's top judicial watchdog in filing a legal challenge to the decree with the constitutional court. The court has yet to say when it will consider the challenge.

Protesters burn a public advertisement during a protest against the new Romanian government's passing of an executive order to pardon prisoners during a rally in Bucharest, Romania on February 2, 2017. /CFP Photo

The decree is due to take effect in a little over one week.

The government says the order, and a draft bill on jail pardons, are needed to ease prison over-crowding and bring the criminal code into line with recent constitutional court rulings.

Critics said it is tailor-made to benefit dozens of public officials under investigation or on trial for corruption, including PSD leader Liviu Dragnea. The government denies this.

(Source: Reuters)

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