NRDO

Valentin Constantin, The relationship between international and national law within the Romanian judicial system and its quandaries.

Abstract: The author feels that recent proposals for amending the Constitution should also address issues with articles 11 and 20 which regulate the relationship between international and national law. The first reason is the fact that current regulations are incomplete. The Constitution doesn’t discuss the status within national law of mandatory unilateral acts of international organizations, other than the European Union. International jurisprudence and the manner in which it should be incorporated within national law were also omitted. But most importantly, in the author’s opinion, the two constitutional norms are the source of numerous uncertainties – uncertainties regarding the direct enforcement of international law within the national system and uncertainties regarding the hierarchy in the relationship international/national law. While not offering any suggestions for amendments, the article attempts to clarify several legal issues with the enforcement of international law.

Keywords: international law, national law, articles 11 and 20 of the Constitution, the preeminence of the Constitution, ratification, Vienna Convention

Cristian Clipa, Effects of art. 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights on the Status of national public servants. The Romanian case

Abstract: The freedom of religion of national public servants can no longer be analyzed other than in strict (and almost indissoluble) connection with the case-law generated by the European Court of Human Rights while applying and (thus) interpreting article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The analysis of this freedom involves discussing various issues, such as: the reference to divinity (or to a certain divinity) in the oath of office that all public national servants must take; the manifestation of a national public servant’s religious beliefs in the place where he exercises, according to law, the attributions of his job, manifestation sometimes likely to amount to gestures of proselytism; the refusal of a public servant to exercise his attributions on certain days (that are, in his system of religious values, holidays) or during certain hours.

Keywords: public servant; freedom of religion, European Convention on Human Rights, believer, atheist, oath of office, religious formula, divinity, religious neutrality, secular state, proselytism, holidays, proportionality, religious sign.

William Totok, Velvet lustration. The policy of critical reassessment of communism in Germany

Abstract: The study divides the issues of critical reassessment of communism in Germany into several sub-themes: the fall of the communist regime and the unification of Germany, the creation of the federal Office for studying the archives of the former East Germany Secret Police – Stasi and the law for access to the files of the secret police, political reassessment by the Bundestag investigative commission, scientific, historical and artistic reassessment, legal reassessment, lawsuits against those responsible for lawbreaking in the former GDR, the rehabilitation of victims and the abuses of East-German justice. The author points out that only a small percentage of the 2.3 million party members experienced any consequences to their careers of their former status, and those were the ones that had been official or unofficial collaborators of Stasi. The latter were considered to be incompatible with the status of judge, public servant, teacher or policeman. However, not all unofficial collaborators were kept out of public service, around half remained. The conclusion is that those responsible for the former regime have not suffered any serious consequences. 

Keywords: Germany, Bundestag, communism, reassessment of the past, lustration, rehabilitation, abuses, Stasi, Erich Honecker, Erich Mielke

Victoria Apostol, The law on ensuring equality in the Republic of Moldova: between integration and abrogation

Abstract: The classification of states into democracies and non-democracies is based to a large extent on three criteria that states must fulfill in order to be part of one category or the other. These elements are the rule of law, the separation of powers and the respect for human rights, but regional supra-national structures have also introduced other elements as a condition for accession as a member to these structures. The European Union and its requirements of potential future members is the best example of this. A forth condition regards the national regulatory framework for the prevention and combating of discrimination. The study analyses the events in Moldova regarding its new anti-discrimination law and the arguments for an approval or rejection of such a law.

Keywords: Republic of Moldova, European Union, UE-Moldova Action Plan, Mitropoly of Chişinău and the Whole of Moldova, anti-discrimination law, LGBT community