Romania

Senate

Political system
Presidential-Parliamentary
Structure of parliament
Bicameral
IPU membership
Yes

Law-making

Data on parliament’s law-making role and activities

Legislative activity

Number of laws adopted by parliament, per year
385
(2022)
Total number of laws adopted by Parliament in the previous legislature
1,474
(2024-12)
Number of laws adopted in the previous legislature that were initiated by parliament
481
(2024-12)
Number of laws adopted in the previous legislature that were initiated by the government
993
(2024-12)
Percentage of laws initiated by parliament in the previous legislature
33%
(2024-12)
Dates of the previous legislature
21 Dec 2020 to 20 Dec 2024
(2024-12)
Outcome when the two chambers cannot agree on a piece of draft legislation
Other

Notes:

If a bill or legislative proposal is adopted by the two Chambers in different forms, the decisional Chamber (either the Senate or the Chamber of Deputies, depending on the nature of the bill or legislative proposal) will take the final decision.

It is not necessary to have the consensus of the two chambers, except in the case of Constitutional laws. If consensus cannot be reached a mediation commission is formed and reports on the texts in disagreement. If disagreement persists after the mediation procedure, the joint Plenary of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate shall take a final decision on texts with at least a three-quarters majority of Deputies and Senators.

The equal decision-making, mediation, and divergence procedure are applicable to all legislative initiatives submitted prior to the 2003 Constitutional review which have not yet completed their legislative procedure.

Sources: Constitution, art. 75, 151(2) and 155(1)

Executive-legislative relations

Legislation adopted by parliament requires the assent of the Head of State
Yes

Sources:

Constitution, art. 77(1)

1. A law shall be submitted for promulgation to the President of Romania. Promulgation shall be given within twenty days after receipt of that law.

2. Before promulgation, the President of Romania may return the law to Parliament for reconsideration, and he may do so only once.

3. In case the President has requested that law be reconsidered or a review has been asked for as to its conformity with the Constitution, promulgation shall be made within ten days from receiving the law passed after its reconsideration, or the decision of the Constitutional Court confirming its constitutionality.

Number of times the Head of State declined to give assent to legislation, per year
26
(2022)

Notes:

In the Romanian legal system, the President of Romania can only once request a re-examination of a law, which is returned to the Parliament that is to rule on the issues criticized. The President of Romania cannot request a second re-examination or refuse to promulgate a law. Instead, the President may also request the verification of the constitutionality of the law by the Romanian Constitutional Court.

Figures refer to a combination of requests for re-examination and referrals to the Constitutional Court (e.g. 2023: 17 re-examinations, 36 referrals; 2022: 14 re-examinations; 12 referrals).

Consequences when the Head of State declines to give assent to legislation
The legislation is returned to Parliament for re-examination
The legislation is referred to the Constitutional/Supreme Court
Final decision when parliament and the Head of State do not agree
Parliament

Notes:

The President of Romania may ask the Parliament to re-examine a law once, and is then obliged to promulgate the form re-examined by the Parliament.

Or the President can submit a complaint to the Constitutional Court on the re-examined law on its possible unconstitutionality, if parliamentary procedure was flawed.

Sources: Constitution, art. 77

Existence of a procedure to introduce emergency legislation

There is a procedure for introducing emergency legislation into parliament
Yes
Number of times the procedure for emergency legislation was used, per year
183

Sources: Parliament is the only legislative authority in the country. The Constitution also provides the Government with the power to adopt emergency ordinances in urgent cases, which enter into force after publication in the Official Gazette of Romania (“Monitorul Oficial al României”) and after its transmission to Parliament for debate and adoption. The Parliament may reject an emergency ordinance adopted by the Government, but may also adopt it in the form issued by the Government or with amendments. As an extraordinary procedure, the Government can assume responsibility for a bill. This procedure turns a bill into law without being debated and adopted by Parliament. But the essential condition for this is that Parliament does not adopt a motion of censure in response to the assumption, a situation in which the effect is that the bill does not become law and, at the same time, the Government is dismissed.

Historical data for IPU membership

Historical data for IPU membership
Year IPU membership
2020-09
List of values for 2020-09
No
2019-04
List of values for 2019-04
No
2018-06
List of values for 2018-06
No