Pirates can Enter Elections in Romania | PirateTimes

Posted: February 28, 2015/Under: Creator, Josef Ohlsson Collentine, News/By: Josef Ohlsson Collentine

requirement of 25.000 signatures to form a political party removed in Romania

Romania Became More democratic. Pirates Allowed to Enter Elections

February 28, 2015 · by Josef Ohlsson Collentine · in Pirate Party News

On Thursday, the Pirate Party of Romania (PPRO) won a court case against their government. The court decision removes the requirement of collecting signatures to register a political party. The news media in Romania (including prime-time shows on television) have reported on the court case and explicitly mentions PPRO as driving the initiative behind it.

Romania has often been mentioned as having some of the most restrictive legislation for registering a political party. This hinders the rights of its citizens to participate in the political life. A year ago, the Pirate Party of Romania (PPRO) filed papers to the Constitutional Court about the unconstitutional limits to forming a political party in Romania:

“The list must contain at least 25,000 founding members residing in at least 18 counties and in Bucharest, but no more than 700 people for each of these counties and Bucharest”.

PPRO denounced the limitations as contrary to the Constitution which states, “citizens may freely associate in political parties, trade unions, employment and other forms of association”. The Pirate Party Chairman, Claudiu Mărginean, is well informed and searched Romanian and European legislations. He considered it a worthwhile effort to bring the case to the court, together with the other two founders of the Pirate Party of Romania.

Last Thursday, 26th February 2015, the Romanian Constitutional Court made a ruling on the complaint by PPRO. The Court decided that the article requiring 25,000 signatures on paper (from 18 different counties and containing personal data) is in breach of the Romanian Constitution and needs to be revised. Romania’s parliament has 45 days to change it, or else the registration request by the Pirate Party of Romania will be solved without the need for any signatures.

Although the law was attacked many times in the past, it was the Pirate Party complaint and the breach of EU data protection rules that brought the change that will benefit many others.

About Josef Ohlsson Collentine

I’m a dual citizen (American/Swede) and try to integrate my reflections from a more global perspective if possible. I’m the organizational leader for Pirate Times and work actively to strengthen the pirate movement through this work as well as being the international contact for Piratpartiet (PPSE). Elected board member of PPSE for 2015-2018.
If you would like to ask me something I speak English, Swedish and Spanish. Find me on the links below

Tags: collect, constitutional, court decision, political party, ppro, requirements, romania, signatures

- romanian_idiot
  
  I searched after Florin Marginean from Cluj as his introduction in a Romanian website (“I was a businessman but now I am retired”) was very sketchy and characteristic of a few professions likely to be corrupted by politics (namely police and secret services), at least in my country.
  
  While I welcome the establishment of such a party and the changes it already made to legislation, I would like to warn other idealistic pirates (who might not be able to read the Romanian language newspapers/Google results).
  
  From what I could gather, this person had no past before 1998, when he suddenly befriended a Romanian sportsman and an Italian gentleman and decided on establishing a gym.
  
  The gym was in fact a club/restaurant and Mr. Marginean got into a conflict with his associates – so continued on his own. In 2002 he got into jail for dilapidation – not a major offense but it has happened while on parole for being convicted for false testimony as a key witness (he accused a person whom he owned money to, for taking bribe). The restaurant entered into bankruptcy and was judicially executed in 2005 for failing to pay over 150.000 dollars in taxes – but it continued functioning for at least 5 more years (as I read this in a 2010 article mentioning “hopes of a new arrest”… disregarding a judiciary decision you can’t really do without political protection).
  
  In 2013 he became the owner of an abandoned hotel (Hotel Continental) from which he evicted a large group of squatters. Now he runs a bar on the ground floor of the place, the rest being non-functional. Even the ground floor is in a deplorable state (paint falling off, dust everywhere – see pictures here: http://www.ziardecluj.ro/am-fost-primii-clienti-ai-cafenelei-din-conti ) but because of his connections he managed to get a sanitary permit.
  
  He is connected to the notorious Decebal Cotoc, owner of an advertising agency (“Amprenta Advertising” – translated as Fingerprint Advertising) and two radio stations – who was accused by the police for bringing numerous clients to a private luxury whorehouse (i.e. pimping) employing 20 underage girls and also dealing in extasy (Club Nana).
  
  Last but not least, it’s important to remember that the decision-making activities of a political party may be more transparent than the ones of a commercial institution… I retain a bit of hope regarding the fact that the Romanian Pirate Party is not just a puppet of either the Secret Services or some major political party (best candidate would be the ones that share the privacy angles such PC and PD-L, the former being staffed by former Securitate officers.).