Peaceful Assembly
Several large protests were organised in June by public sector labour unions who demanded better wages and by farmers calling for subsidies. Smaller protests calling for recounting of local election votes and controversial moves by parliament on conflict of interest. This year’s Pride Parade – The Diversity Festival – took place between the 19th and the 25th of June, and went ahead largely without incident. Generally, civil society reports that most recent protest have been peaceful however some concerns have been expressed about police abuse including intimidation and unjustified fines. By and large, Romanian media reported well on protests.
Expression
The parliament recently nominated a new Council of Administration to run the public television station, which is struggling financially. Despite this intervention, no recent interference with the content of the broadcaster has been recorded. A more pressing concern for civil society is a proposed new cyber security bill, which is still being debated by lawmakers. For some time civil society organisations have expressed their concerns about the intense level of scrutiny proposed in the bill and about its constitutionality. Two previous versions of the bill were rejected by the Constitutional Court because they failed to respect fundamental rights.