Constitutional Court Chairman stands against adopting new main law
Constitutional Court Chairman Dumitru Pulbere is resolutely against the idea of adopting a new Constitution, even though this is one of the essential items in the country governance program adopted by the majority Alliance for European Integration.
On Thursday, Dumitru Pulbere convened an annual news conference to present the Constitutional Court's 2010 work results and stressed this is his personal opinion only, not the whole Constitutional Court's.
"I have read the draft Constitution prepared by the Constitutional Reform Commission, and found out that the drafters are proposing to re-write 69-of-143 Articles. I don't think there really is any need to amend that much, or the more so to adopt a totally new Main Law. At the moment, Moldova's Constitution is reputed as one of the best in the CIS area and in Europe. So, I wonder why should we re-do such good a job?"
The CC Chairman believes the incumbent Constitution needs only to be corrected and "trimmed a little".
"A constitution is a living organism requiring certain updating from time to time. Indeed, we ought to amend Article 78 on election of president, and Article 141 on the number of citizens eligible to initiate referenda because this Article contains a mathematical error", said Dumitru Pulbere.
Concerning the presidential election date, Pulbere said that on February 8 the Constitutional Court will convene to consider the Communist Party's inquiry on this and will formulate a conclusion. He emphasized: the Parliament has no right to elect a president otherwise than in conformity with the Constitution.
"The Constitution is sacred, and no one may take decisions without an account of rules stipulated in it. The Parliament may amend Article 78, and may indicate in transitional and final provisions since which time the amendment shall be in force, and whether or not it shall apply only to the incumbent Parliament or to subsequent ones as well", said the Constitutional Court Chairman.
Dumitru Pulbere voiced regret that the considerable intellectual and professional potential of the Constitutional Court is used so inefficiently. To correct the situation, a corresponding legislation needs to be revised.
He explained that quite often the Constitutional Court "sits jobless", waiting for inquiries to come because only 11 subjects are eligible to apply to it. Grassroots may not address to the Constitutional Court directly.
"In 2010, for instance, we received only 48 inquiries and complaints, and rejected a half of them straightaway because they were improperly drawn up. The situation we are in is just ridiculous, compared with the volume of work made by the Constitutional Court in Romania, which considers over 3 thousand inquiries a year. I believe it is necessary to permit citizens address the Constitutional Court", said Pulbere.
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