Romanian PM under fire on corruption charges

Members of the lower house of the Romanian parliament will decide on Tuesday morning (9 June) whether to lift the immunity of prime minister Victor Ponta i, who has been charged with forgery, tax evasion, and money laundering.

President Klaus Iohannis has asked Ponta to resign, something he refused to do unless MPs pass a vote of no confidence scheduled for Friday (12 June).

“I was appointed by the parliament and only the parliament can dismiss me”, Ponta said in a statement.

The corruption scandal risks exacerbating the power struggle between Ponta and Iohannis, who are political rivals.

The socialist PM, in office since 2012, tried to become president last year but Iohannis won the post in a surprise victory.

Last Friday (5 June), Romania's anti-corruption agency announced it had opened an investigation into Ponta on charges that relate to his former work as a lawyer.

The agency also wants to investigate more recent conflict-of-interest suspicions during Ponta's time as PM. But this requires the Romanian parliament to lift Ponta's immunity - the Romanian prime minister is also a member of parliament, whose immunity can only be removed by his peers.

Following publication of the allegations, Iohannis said “it is an impossible situation for Romania to have a prime minister charged with major offences” and asked for him to step down.

He added that “the worst thing that could happen to Romania now is a political crisis”, according to Romanian news agency Agerpres.

On Monday, the Chamber of Deputies' legal affairs committee adopted a motion to maintain the PM's immunity, by 18 to 7 votes. The plenary, where Ponta's centre-left coalition has a majority, is set to vote on Tuesday morning.

Meanwhile, the political battle has been brought to the European Parliament.

The largest political group, the centre-right EPP - of which Iohannis is a member - said it's “shocked” by the outcome of the committee vote.

“We expect the plenary of the Romanian parliament to clear the way and enable the prosecutors' investigations of prime minister Ponta”, said a statement by EPP president Joseph Daul.

Centre-right Romanian MEP Cristian Preda said he wants the EP plenary “to discuss the political crisis in Romania” this week in Strasbourg.

But the leader of Ponta's political family in the European Parliament, Gianni Pittella, sees no reason for Ponta to resign, according to Romanian news agency Actmedia.

“Romania is a sovereign state and I respect the independence of the Romanian authorities”, Pittella said.