The Romanian Constitutional Court (CCR) has reinstated Traian Băsescu’s rights as a former president, granting him lifelong state benefits, including a monthly allowance, protocol residence, and permanent security. The court ruled unanimously that a 2001 law, which stripped former presidents of these privileges if found to have collaborated with the communist-era Securitate, is unconstitutional, Biziday.ro reported.
CCR said the law violated legal principles because it applied retroactively, lacked transitional provisions, and breached the principle of legality.
While the ruling has not yet been published in full, the decision means that Băsescu, who served as Romania’s president from 2004 to 2014, will regain all entitlements associated with his former office. These include the free use of a protocol residence and an office space, along with staff, as well as a monthly allowance amounting to 75% of the current president’s salary. He will also benefit from permanent protection and the free use of a car provided by the state.
The law in question, Law no. 406/2001, was amended and republished in October 2021, six months before Romania’s High Court of Cassation and Justice issued a final ruling that Traian Băsescu had been an informant for the Securitate, the secret police of the former communist regime, according to Biziday.ro.
However, Băsescu has repeatedly denied knowingly collaborating with the political police. In court, he claimed he had worked with military counterintelligence and only realized after the 1989 Revolution that this structure had been part of the Securitate’s Fourth Directorate.
irina.marica@romania-insider.com
(Photo source: Inquam Photos / Adriana Neagoe)
Leave a Reply