The parliamentarians' brute fear

Not the prosecutor's office but the Romanian parliament decided yesterday that no corruption charges should be brought against two members of parliament, former prime minister Adrian Năstase and former transport minister Miron Mitrea. According to Gândul newspaper, the decision will have profound consequences. "This vote puts an end to justice in Romania. For 18 years the citizens of this country have lived with the ideas of the constitutional state, democracy and equality before the law. And they believed in these principles. But now they have been openly ridiculed. ... Parliament should have sent Năstase and Mitrea not to jail or the electric chair, but to court - if not out of moral responsibility, then at least as a political calculation. ... The parliamentarians who opposed this move have sunk even deeper in public opinion than they already were. What pressure were they under? Who was their most important advisor? There is only one answer: fear. The brute fear of facing the prosecution themselves in a court of law. The extent of this crippling fear exposes the number of skeletons in the closet, the magnitude of the thievery and dishonesty, and the enormous sums of money that have been amassed in the Palace of the Parliament."

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