Unconstitutionality of Exoneration from Legal Liability of Local Dignitaries
Unconstitutionality of Exoneration from Legal Liability of Local Dignitaries

Author(s): Ioana Panagoreț, Vasile Ivan Ivanoff
Subject(s): Constitutional Law
Published by: Editura Lumen, Asociatia Lumen
Keywords: disclaimer; liability; responsibility; local elected officials; breach of the principle of legality;
Summary/Abstract: The present study highlights the unconstitutionality of art. 128 of the Law no. 215/2001, as introduced by Law no. 140/2017, since the above-mentioned text only exonerates from liability a wide range of elected local dignitaries, depriving them of any responsibility and deleting from their content the competences and attributions assigned to them by the organic and ordinary laws relevant in this matter. It is for the first time in our legal system when serious legal and constitutional threats are being created, bringing over a lawful category of public officials, seriously infringing Article 16 of the Constitution. It surprises the inefficiency of the People's Advocate and of the Constitutional Court in analyzing the constitutionality of this text of the law both a priori and subsequent of its adoption. In the situation of the changes to Article 128, does it somehow place us in this paradigm of the elimination of liability, because there is "too much responsibility"? We think it is not appropriate to draw such a conclusion! The arguments invoked by us in this study do nothing to converge with the doctrinal opinions already expressed in the literature and to support the quasi-unanimity of the existing opinions regarding the unconstitutionality of the above mentioned law.

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