AUR notifies the People's Advocate for the ordinance regarding defense investments: It was signed by a dismissed Government, it is usurpation
The Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR) submitted, on Saturday, a referral to the People's Advocate, requesting the referral to the Constitutional Court of Emergency Ordinance 38/2026, published in the Official Gazette of May 8, which refers to defense investments, reports Agerpres.
“It is about the normative act signed by Ilie Bolojan and countersigned by several ministers three days after the Government was dismissed through a motion of censure by the Romanian Parliament, in the joint session of May 5, 2026. The Romanian Constitution is as clear as possible. Article 110 paragraph (4) and Article 37 paragraph (3) of the Administrative Code provide, unequivocally, that a dismissed government “cannot issue ordinances or emergency ordinances and cannot initiate bills”, but only documents strictly necessary for the current administration of public affairs. GEO 38/2026 is not, under any circumstances, an act of current administration. This introduces a new mechanism for the expropriation of movable assets, without precedent in Romanian legislation, allows the transfer into state ownership of some functional assets of some private companies, including those in bankruptcy, without the protection of creditors, simultaneously modifies 14 completely different normative acts (the Expropriation Law, the Fiscal Code, the Fiscal Procedure Code, the Wages Law, the Fire Protection Law, the regime of civil servants and others), restricts fundamental rights such as the right to property, the right to work, the freedom contract and the prohibition of forced labor”, it is mentioned in a press release issued on Saturday by AUR.
According to AUR, the Bolojan Government “ignored even the negative opinion from the Legislative Council”.
“The Council issued (…) a negative opinion on the ordinance, identifying multiple violations of the Constitution (…) Nevertheless, the deposed Bolojan Government published the ordinance in the Official Gazette, while another act adopted under identical conditions was not published, publicly admitting that it cannot enter into force after the dismissal of the Government. This double measure is, in itself, proof of arbitrariness and abuse of power. The Bolojan Government itself recognized (…) that the 12 articles added later to the project were introduced because of the “possibility that in the event of the vote of censure against the Executive, it will no longer be able to issue Emergency Ordinances”. In other words, the Executive has publicly confessed that it tried to evade the Constitution itself, anticipating its dismissal and trying to sneak regulations through the back door, over the head of the Parliament that had just withdrawn its confidence”, the representatives of the AUR said.
They accuse the Bolojan Government of “usurpation”.
“We are facing an unprecedented case: a Government dismissed by a motion of censure signs an emergency ordinance that affects private property, the rights of employees, civil servants and taxpayers. This is not governance, it is usurpation. The AUR will not accept that the acts of a Government dismissed by the Parliament produce effects against Romanians and the Constitution. We will defend our constitutional order to the end, before the Constitutional Court. Through the submitted notification, the AUR requests The emergency referral to the Constitutional Court with the exception of the unconstitutionality of GEO No. 38/2026 in its entirety, in the alternative, the referral for articles I, II, V and VIII, which directly affect the right to property and the fundamental rights of citizens, as well as the disposition of all the necessary measures to protect the affected fundamental rights, until the pronouncement of the Constitutional Court”, the AUR press release states.
What the Bolojan Government approved in the meeting
The Government put back on the agenda of Friday's meeting the draft emergency ordinance adopted in the meeting of Monday, May 4, regarding the legal framework for the rapid realization of some of the investments in the defense industry, so that the Executive takes note of the negative opinion issued by the Legislative Council for this normative act.
According to a press release from the Executive, the reinstatement was carried out according to article 43 paragraph 1 of HG 561/2009 in conjunction with article 10 of Law no. 24/2000 and does not consider an adoption/re-adoption of the normative act approved on May 4.
“The emergency ordinance aims to adapt the legal framework for the rapid realization of some of the investments in the defense industry, taking into account the opportunities created by accessing the SAFE program, and to protect the assets of some companies declared strategic by the Government's decision”, says the same source.
The press release states that, also, during the Government meeting on May 4, other changes were introduced in the GEO draft for the smooth functioning of several sectors of activity, respectively: to resolve the large number of documents issued to prove the rights of politically persecuted persons; clarifying some aspects regarding the settlement of amounts related to energy price compensation; clarifying fire safety rules when using pyrotechnic articles; the possibility of using the budget surplus from previous years in the case of public projects; clarifications regarding the authorization of fiscal warehouses and VAT refunds; clarifications regarding the legislation related to the development of investment projects for the modernization and expansion of the natural gas transmission and distribution network; ensuring the human resource for a better development of the projects financed from the PNRR.
“The additions brought to the Government meeting to the emergency ordinance were motivated by the importance and urgency of the regulations, corroborated with the possibility that, in the event of voting the motion of censure against the Executive, it will no longer be able to issue emergency ordinances during the interim period”, the statement states.
