Challenges of Constitutional Justice in Romania

Constitutional justice represents an essential component of the rule of law, ensuring compliance with the Constitution and the balance between the powers of the state. In Romania, this role is fulfilled by the Constitutional Court, a fundamental institution with a key role in the democratic framework: it acts as the guarantor of the supremacy of the Constitution, the rule of law, and the principle of separation and balance of powers. According to Romania’s Fundamental Law, the Constitutional Court is the guarantor of the supremacy of the Constitution, with the mission of ensuring that the entire body of legislation complies with fundamental norms and principles. The task of the Constitutional Court of Romania is not an easy one today, as constitutional justice faces multiple structural, institutional, and political challenges that affect citizens' trust in its decisions, and at times, their effectiveness. Among the dangers that affect legal security, which also represent challenges for constitutional justice, are the following: the intervention of the Constitutional Court in certain legislative processes or the adoption of decisions with high political impact, which often generate tensions between state institutions; legislative instability, which undermines belief in the perfectibility of the law, with the Constitutional Court often being called upon to rule on the lack of accessibility and predictability of legal provisions or on the abuse of the Government in regulating through emergency ordinances; non-compliance with the decisions of the Constitutional Court or the delayed or incomplete implementation of these decisions by the competent public authorities.