Constitutional Court President Explains Meeting with Interim PM Over Office Space Needs

Simina Tănăsescu, President of Romania's Constitutional Court (CCR), has provided explanations regarding her meeting with interim Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan. The encounter, which took place shortly before the CCR was set to rule on several significant cases, had prompted requests for clarification from judicial system institutions.

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I asked if it would be possible for one or two rooms, administrative spaces, to be allocated from that entire building, across 5-6 floors, also for the Constitutional Court.

Tănăsescu stated that the CCR requires adequate facilities for its operations and had previously discussed this issue with the General Secretariat of the Government. She explained that the purpose of the meeting was to explore the possibility of allocating administrative spaces within a government building for the Constitutional Court. While some matters can be handled through correspondence or phone calls, Tănăsescu emphasized that discussing the specifics of office locations and arrangements necessitated a face-to-face meeting.

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I did not request it specifically. I addressed a question to the General Secretariat of the Government, but to establish the way it would be possible, even theoretically, to benefit from additional spaces, a meeting was necessary.

Addressing the controversial timing of the meeting, Tănăsescu noted that it occurred very soon after an extraordinary government session. She indicated that she learned of the meeting's agenda through standard channels and that the time between the session's conclusion and her meeting with Bolojan was less than an hour. Consequently, she stated there was insufficient time to announce the meeting beforehand. She also dismissed the suggestion that the discussion could have been postponed, citing that the court's constrained situation has persisted for a year, not just a few days. Tănăsescu firmly rejected any link between her meeting with Bolojan and the CCR's jurisdictional activities.

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Perhaps this is a legitimate question, but the very constraining situation we are in has not lasted for one or two days; it has lasted for a year.