Romanian court upholds law stripping Timișoara mayor of mandate within 30 days

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5 days · 4 summary articles
Romania’s Constitutional Court published its reasoning on Friday for upholding a controversial amendment to the National Integrity Agency law, a provision that will strip Timișoara Mayor Dominic Fritz of his mandate within 30 days.
The court’s majority ruled the measure constitutional, arguing the norm does not impose a retroactive personal sanction but instead terminates a public office “whose integrity has been compromised.” The five judges backing the decision—Mihaela Ciochină, Gheorghe Stan, Cristian Deliorga, Mihai Busuioc and Csaba Asztalos—wrote that the transitional rule integrates past legal effects into a new framework for protecting the integrity of public functions, eliminating systemic risks to constitutional safeguards .
Fritz, who leads the USR party, responded on Facebook with irony: “We can rest easy: the CCR-PSD has motivated that the sanction does not apply to me, but to my mandate.” USR deputy and lawyer Alexandru Dimitriu called the reasoning “a construction built step by step to reach a predetermined result,” adding that the court contradicts itself four times in the same document. He noted the ruling cites the court’s own 1994 Decision 9, which bars retroactive changes to settled legal situations, yet later reverses that principle without explanation .
Three judges—Laura-Iuliana Scântei, Dacian-Cosmin Dragoș and Elena-Simina Tănăsescu—filed a dissent, arguing the amendment violates the constitutional ban on retroactive laws. They wrote that the situation leading to Fritz’s removal was already final before the new law took effect, and that retroactivity undermines legal certainty, a fundamental protection against arbitrary state action .
Former judge Cristi Dănileț said on Facebook he could not understand the court’s language, writing, “The law has already been surpassed. I think it’s written in the language of ‘if,’ otherwise I can’t explain why I don’t understand anything.” Former presidential adviser Iulian Fota called the decision “a major legal insecurity,” stating the Constitution had been turned “into a cudgel against those who want a Western Romania” .
The amendment, introduced by the PSD party, mandates the automatic termination of an elected official’s term within 30 days if they are found in a definitive conflict of interest or incompatibility. The court’s full reasoning was released on Friday evening, with the decision itself adopted on Aug. 17 .
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