An overwhelming number of Romanian deputies voted in favor of a controversial law that establishes an official body to supervise the wealth of elected officials despite a series of changes that turns the entire legislative effort futile.
Justice Minister Monica Macovei left all decisions in the hands of the Senate after the Parliament's majority decided to vote in favor of the law.
251 deputies voted the piece of legislation that establishes the National Agency for Integrity-ANI in its latest version, with only five against and one abstention.
ANI was initially conceived as a body that would monitor and check the wealth statements of elected officials across the country. But the House Legislative Commission crushed the initial intent, eliminating a series of articles in the law that allowed wealth checks.
The final version, passed for the House vote, turned ANI in a simple recipient of wealth statements of parliamentarians and other officials, with no authority to check them.
This final version was passed by the House today. The voting figures show that deputies belonging to the two senior members of the governing coalition, the Liberals and the Democrats, voted in favor of the law just like the main opposition parties and the two junior members of the coalition, the Conservatives and the Hungarian Democrats.
The latter and the opposition parties had a major role in drastically changing the first versions of the draft law.
On Tuesday morning, Justice minister Monica Macovei, who initiated the law, had said she considered withdrawing the bill as she was disappointed with the changes.
HotNews.ro, Oct 31, 2006
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