Parliamentary Groups - Internal Structures of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. Controversial Aspects on Establishing Parliamentary Groups Arising from the Parliamentary Practice

• Author: Adrian Tutuianu, Florina-Ramona Muresan
• Profession: Valahia' University of Târgoviste, Romania/Muresan - 'Nicolae Titulescu' University of Bucharest, Romania
• Pages: 267-304

Parliamentary Groups - Internal Structures of the Chamber of

Deputies and the Senate. Controversial Aspects on Establishing

Parliamentary Groups Arising from the Parliamentary Practice

Associate professor Adrian ȚUȚUIANU

1

PhD. student Florina-Ramona MUREȘAN

2

Abstract

The political configuration of the Parliament Chambers is determined by the

citizens’ vote and expresses the representative nature of the legislative chamber. The sen-

ators and the deputies are organized in parliamentary groups, according to regulations

of each Chamber. Creating parliamentary groups represents a constitutional right and

not an obligation; all and any imperative term is null. The activity of the political parties

and other the political groups engaged in the election campaign continues within the

Parliament, by forming “parliamen tary groups” or “political groups”, usually made of

members of the Parliament under the same political group or who subscribe to the same

program or are followers of the same idea. In the parliamentary practice, establishing

parliamentary groups b y the deputies and senators who become unaffiliated as a result

of leaving the party under which they were elected is still a controversial aspect. The

Constitutional Court of Romania has repeatedly ruled on the possibility to constitute such

groups, of which establishment was blocked by the parliamentary majority existing at a

given time.

Keywords: parliamentary party, parliamentary group, independent Member of

Parliament (MP), unaffiliated MP, decisions of the Constitutional Court.

JEL Classification: K10, K23

1. Introductory considerations

As representative body, the Parliament is formed after the legislative

elections, and the MPs express the political will of the electoral corpus, propor-

tional to the number of votes obtained by each and every parliamentary political

party. Consequently, the legislative Chambers acquire a new political configura-

tion arising from the spectrum of the political parties which have obtained parlia-

mentary mandates and from the number of such mandates, configuration which

shall be maintained throughout the entire length of the legislature and will be

reflected in the entire organization and functioning of each Chamber of the Par-

liament. Therefore, the political configuration shall correspond to the electoral

1

Adrian Țuțuianu – „Valahia” University of Târgoviște, Romania, adrian.tutuianu65@ yahoo.com.

2

Florina-Ramona Mureșan – „Nicolae Titulescu” University of Bucharest, Romania,

av.muresanflorina@yahoo.com.

Dynamic Elements in the Contemporary Business Law 268

will of the population expressed by the votes granted. In principle, the configura-

tion of the Chambers of the Parliament may be changed only after new legislative

elections.

The criterion of the political configuration used in organizing the struc-

tures of the Chambers of the Parliament was laid down in article 64 (5) of the

Constitution according to which “Permanent offices and parliamentary commis-

sions are formed in line with the political configuration of each Chamber”. The

political configuration is the result of the votes granted by the voters to the can-

didates proposed by the political parties which registered to be part of the election

campaign and also a fundamental requirement of the representative democracy.

In addition, the political configuration of the Chambers of the Parliament ex-

presses the representative nature of the legislative chamber. In a pluralistic polit-

ical system, the more diverse the political configuration is, the higher the degree

of representativeness is.

The Constitution of Romania

3

, Law no. 96/2006 regarding the Status of

the Deputies and Senators

4

, the Regulations of the two Chambers clearly set forth

how the Parliament should be organized and should function. The internal struc-

tures of the two Chambers of the Parliament are similar, consisting of a president,

a permanent office, a committee of the leaders of the parliamentary groups, par-

liamentary groups, parliamentary commissions.

Considering that the Constitution defines in article 8 (2) the role of the

political parties, i.e. to contribute “to defining and expressing the political will of

the citizens...”, constituting the parliamentary groups is an imperative require-

ment, whereas every group has to be the result of the political will of the electors

of a certain segment of the electoral corpus. Nonetheless, the parliamentary

groups are not mandatory structures of the Parliament; they result from the vol-

untary association of the deputies and senators; creating parliamentary groups

represents a constitutional right and not an obligation, as the deputies and the

senators are independent and any imperative mandate is null. In direct relation to

3

The Constitution of Romania, as amended and completed by Law for the revision of the Constitu-

tion of Romania no. 429/2003, published in the Official Gazette of Romania, Part I, no. 758 of 29

October 2003, republished by the Legislative Council, in accordance with article 152 of the Con-

stitution, with update of the names and a new numbering of the texts (following republication, ar-

ticle 152 became article156). The law for the revision of the Constitution of Romania no. 429/2003

was approved by national referendum on 18-19 October 2003 and came into force on 29 October

2003, date of publication in the Official Gazette of Romania, Part I, no. 758 of 29 October 2003 of

the Decision of the Constitutional Court no. 3 of 22 October 2003 for confirmation of the result of

the national referendum of 18-19 October 2003 for the law for the revision of the Constitution of

Romania. In its initial form, the Constitution of Romania was adopted in the meeting of the Con-

stituent Assembly of 21 November 1991, was published in the Official Gazette of Romania, Part I,

no. 233 of 21 November 1991 and came into force following its approval by national referendum

on 8 December 1991.

4

Republication of Law no. 96/2006 regarding the Status of the Deputies and Senators was published

in the Official Gazette of Romania, Part I no. 49 of 22 January 2016.

Dynamic Elements in the Contemporary Business Law 269

the vote granted by the electors, the parliamentary groups include a higher or,

where appropriate, a lower number of members.

After 1990 there were controversies in respect of establishing parliamen-

tary groups by the MPs who became independent by leaving the political parties

on the lists of which they were elected or by being excluded from these parties.

The normative acts, i.e. Law no. 96/2006 regarding the Status of Deputies and

Senators and the Regulations of the Chamber of Deputies and the Regulations of

the Senate, even though amended, failed to make references to the creation of the

parliamentary groups, as the interest of the majority parties was to hinder the es-

tablishment of parliamentary groups by MPs who became independent.

The provisions of the Law no. 96/2006 regarding the Status of the two

Chambers and the Regulations of the two Chambers regulating the creation of

parliamentary groups, in particular by MPs who became independent or unaffili-

ated, were the subject matter of some referrals to the Constitutional Court of Ro-

mania. In this respect, between 1993 and 2018, the Constitutional Court of Ro-

mania ruled in several Decisions

5

, the general opinion being that the Regulations

do not forbid creation of parliamentary groups by MPs who changed their parlia-

mentary group, the MPs’ possibility to affiliate to a parliamentary group or to

establish a group made of MPs who became independent/unaffiliated.

Although the general opinion expressed by the Constitutional Court is the

same as expressed previously, the parliamentary practice, determined by the will

of the parties forming the parliamentary majority, is controversial. The creation

of parliamentary groups by independent MPs was denied in several parliamentary

sessions

6

/unaffiliated.

The blockage of establishing parliamentary groups by unaffiliated MPs

is still an element of dispute between the parties forming the parliamentary ma-

jority and such MPs, as the latter’s rights, as recognized by the Constitution of

Romania, Law no. 96/2006 and the Regulations of the two Chambers, are there-

fore violated.

On the other hand, there is also a practical side to organizing deputies and

senators in parliamentary groups, side highlighted by the unitary work, with the

possibility to express and achieve more efficiently the political and social objec-

tives to the best interest of the citizens. This is the reasons why the Permanent

Offices of the Chambers of the Parliament should not prevent, based on contrary

political reasons or interests, the will of the unaffiliated MPS to renounce their

5

For details see Ch apter III, Section III Controversial Aspects on Establishing Parliamentary

Groups. Practice of the Constitutional Court of Romania regarding parliamentary groups.

6

By way of example, see request to establish in the Senate the parliamentary groups UNIREA,

DEMOCRAȚIA, which were denied as it was considered that th ey fail to meet the regulatory re-

quirements, even though, under the same legal and regulatory requirements, the creation of the

parliamentary group PRO EUROPA was acknowledged in the Chamber of Deputies, based o n the

decision of the Constitutional Court 85/2018.