“State funding for political parties was introduced in 2016 at a rate of 0.2 per cent of budget revenue,” recalled Barbalat.
It was abolished on 24 June 2018. It was then reinstated immediately on 1 January 2019. Since then and up to the present day, 0.1 per cent of the national budget has been allocated for this purpose.
Between 2016 and 2026, political parties received 510 million lei from the state budget, equivalent to $28 million at the average exchange rate.
However, both previously and now, all political parties are illegal, as the party registration authorities – initially the Ministry of Justice, and subsequently, to this day, the Agency for Public Services – have not published in the ‘Official Gazette’ the decisions on the registration of parties, accompanied by the founding documents on the basis of which these organisations could exist: their statutes and programmes.
Therefore, no one was, or is, entitled to receive funding.
It was unlawful for both the Central Election Commission and the Constitutional Court to approve members of parliament on behalf of unlawful parties.
In short, at least since 2007, when Law No. 294/2007 on political parties came into force, the so-called parliaments have also been unlawful. As have all the laws and resolutions they have adopted.
‘And even if political parties were to be granted legal status today, none of this would have retroactive effect for previous years,’ asserts Dumitru Barbalat.
This story was translated with the assistance of artificial intelligence.The translation was also reviewed by the Logos Press editorial team.
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