Romania

Abstract

This chapter aims to explain the Romanian constitutional setup, elaborating on the status of European Union (EU) law and Economic and Monetary Union (EMU)-related law in the Romanian legal system, with specific emphasis on the decisions of the Constitutional Court of Romania on EMU-related law. This contribution also outlines possible constitutional obstacles to furthering economic and monetary integration in the EU. Romania is not yet a member of the eurozone, but retains the status of a Member State with a derogation. However, in the process of joining the eurozone, Romania, as a non-eurozone Member State, has signed the Treaty on Stability, Coordination and Governance in the Economic and Monetary Union (TSCG), choosing to be bound by Titles III (Fiscal Compact) and IV in their entirety, joining a common effort towards a deeper integration. The Romanian legal system enshrines a set of rules and principles imposed by EMU-related law, designed to strengthen fiscal discipline, but these rules and principles are only provided for by ordinary laws, not by constitutional provisions. The main weakness of the legal framework implementing EMU-related law in Romania derives from the fact that all such rules are easily amendable upon approval or rectification of annual budgets or by any other derogatory provisions of other ordinary laws. The Romanian Constitution is yet to be amended to include fiscal-budgetary discipline rules, although in 2011 a constitutional amendment procedure concerning the inclusion of the balanced budget rule was initiated. In this context, EMU law had barely any impact on the Constitution of Romania or on constitutionality control exercised by the Constitutional Court. This is especially the case as the Constitutional Court currently considers that it lacks jurisdiction to review the constitutionality of national legislation based on the rules of the fiscal-budgetary discipline enshrined in national law or EMU-related law, although the Constitutional Court acknowledged, on the grounds of Article 148 (2)-(4) of the Constitution, the constitutional relevance of EU law, under certain conditions. This chapter examines, thus, the constitutional foundations of Romanian EU membership, the Romanian financial constitutional provisions and the interaction between EU law (EMU law included) and national law, especially in the context of the constitutionality control exercised by the Constitutional Court. It also analyses the national laws implementing EMU-related law aiming to limit the public debt and deficits, include a balanced budget rule, and to institutionalise a control and corrective mechanism. These laws are formally compliant with EMU-related law. However, the effectiveness of these rules is weakened by the instability of ordinary laws that implement these rules and by the lack of constitutionality control based on the balanced budget rule.