Obywatelska inicjatywa konstytucyjna i obywatelska inicjatywa ustawodawcza w Rumunii
Citizens’ Constitution Initiative and Citizens’ Legislative Initiative in Romania

Summary/Abstract: The citizens’ constitutional initiative and the citizens’ legislative initiative exist in Romania since 1991. They were established by the Constitution of 21 November 1991. The right to initiate a constitutional amendment is vested in a group of at least 500,000 citizens who have the right to vote; they must be residents of at least half of the voivodships, and at least 20,000 citizens must sign the initiative in each voivodship and in Bucharest. The right of legislative initiative is vested in a group of at least 100,000 citizens with the right to vote; they must be residents of at least one-quarter of the voivodships and in each of them such an initiative must be supported by the signatures of at least 5,000 citizens. The Constitution provides exemptions to these initiatives. The collection of signatures and the further handling of such drafts are regulated by Act No. 189 of 9 December 1999 on the exercise of a legislative initiative by citizens (amended in 2004). Their compliance with the Constitution is examined by the Constitutional Tribunal. The project initiator has 6 months to collect signatures from the moment of its publication in the official publication journal „Monitorul Oficial României”. In practice, a small number of citizens’ constitutional and legislative initiatives have so far been submitted. It is therefore an ineffective institution. This is believed to be due to overly complex bureaucratic rules governing the collection of signatures. Therefore, it is postulated to simplify the process and introduce the possibility of collecting signatures electronically.

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