UK Edition
A Romanian minister quit and anther ceded his duties after hundreds of thousands of anti-corruption demonstrators took to the streets in the biggest mass protest in Romania since the fall of communism.
An estimated 150,000 braved sub-zero temperatures to pack into the centre of Bucharest on Wednesday night, while thousands more demonstrated across the country, in s huge outpouring of anger over emergency changes to law that many believe will weaken the fight against corruption.
As protestors began to prepare for another night of protests Florin Jianu, the trade and business minister, stepped down on Thursday, saying he was doing it for the future of his child.
In another blow to government stability Florin Iordache, the justice minister, ceded his duties to a deputy till February 7, while senior members of the ruling Social Democrats urged Sorin Grindeanu, the prime minister, to scrap the ordinances.
Introduced late on Tuesday night, the ordinances strike a number of corruption offences from the statute books, and also introduce a draft bill on prison pardons, which the government claims will ease prison overcrowding.
But critics dismiss this as an excuse to free people serving time for corruption.
Romania has been plagued by endemic corruption since the fall of communism, and the law changes have come as a huge blow to Romanians desperate to have the scourge driven from their country.
The demonstrations have thrown Romania into a political crisis with even Klaus Iohannis, the country’s president, and state anti-corruption officials siding with the protestors. Mr Iohannis filed a legal challenge to the law changes with the supreme court on Thursday.
The European Commission said it was watching events in Romania with “great concern” while in a rare intervention the British embassy in Bucharest also expressed its “concern” over the law changes.
The public anger has piled huge pressure on the Social Democrat government which only took office last month. Mr Grindeanu has pledged to defend the changes, which he claims are needed to update the criminal code, despite the cracks in his government.
Even before their introduction the changes had drawn Romanians tired and frustrated with what they perceive as a lacklustre fight against corruption onto the streets in anger.
“People are extremely angry,” said one man who vowed to keep on demonstrating.
“It is now a form of defiance. We had two weekends of protests against this but they still introduced the ordinances, and without public consultation and at 10 o’clock at night.”