海角大神

Public outcry in Romania over a government decree that would decriminalize official corruption for sums of $47,800 or less is roiling the cabinet of prime minister Sorin聽Grindeanu, with the business minister resigning in protest of the decree and the country's justice minister 鈥� who was architect of the decree 鈥� temporarily ceding his duties.聽

In a Facebook post announcing his resignation, trade and business minister Florin Jianu said it was 鈥渢he ethical thing to do鈥� while clarifying that his conscience was 鈥渃lean鈥� on matters of professional honesty, according to Reuters:

"How am I going to look [my child] in the eye and what am I going to tell him over the years? Am I going to tell him his father was a coward and supported actions he does not believe in, or that he chose to walk away from a story that isn't his?"聽

Romanian president Klaus Iohannis has also come out against the decree, announcing on Thursday that he would ask judges in the country鈥檚 highest court to annul the order.

The shakeup comes a day after some 250,000 people took to the streets in cities around Romania to protest the measure, in the biggest demonstrations since the fall of the communist government in 1989. That outcry seems to testify to the force of public support for an anti-corruption push that got legs with Romania鈥檚 2007 entry into the European Union, whose commission helped pressure it into reforming its notoriously corrupt politics.

As Kit Gillet reported for 海角大神 in 2015, that push hasn鈥檛 been without its setbacks. But other failed attempts by lawmakers to rein back punishments for abuse of power seem to point to progress:

Prime Minister Grindeanu says the measure, presented along with a draft bill on jail pardons, will ease overcrowding in prisons and align the criminal code with recent rulings from the constitutional court. Critics call it a way of pardoning officials, like the leader of the ruling Social Democratic party, who have been accused or convicted of abuse-of-power crimes. Among those critics is Romania鈥檚 anti-corruption czar, Laura Codru葲a K枚vesi, who calls the decree a blank check for legislators to abuse public office.聽

鈥淚t is a project by emergency decree which will very severely affect the anti-corruption fight, basically if this project is adopted, the fight against corruption becomes irrelevant,鈥� she told Euro News.

This report contains material from Reuters and the Associated Press.