Organization and functioning

- Constitution of Romania

SECTION 1 - Organization and functioning

ARTICLE 61 - Role and structure

(1) Parliament is the supreme representative body of the Romanian people and the sole legislative authority of the country.

(2) Parliament consists of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate.

ARTICLE 62 - Election of the Chambers

(1) The Chamber of Deputies and the Senate shall be elected by universal, equal, direct, secret and free suffrage, in accordance with the electoral law.

(2) Organizations of citizens belonging to national minorities, which fail to obtain the number of votes for representation in Parliament, have the right to one Deputy seat each, under the terms of the electoral law. Citizens of a national minority are entitled to be represented by one organization only.

(3) The number of Deputies and Senators shall be established by the electoral law, in proportion to the population of Romania.

ARTICLE 63 - Term of office

(1) The Chamber of Deputies and the Senate shall be elected for a term of office of 4 years, which may be extended de jure in the event of a mobilization, war, siege, or emergency, until such event has ceased to exist.

(2) Elections to the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate shall be held within three months at the most of the expiry of the term of office or the Parliament dissolution.

(3) The newly elected Parliament shall meet upon convening by the President of Romania, within twenty days of the elections.

(4) The Chambers' term of office shall be prolonged until the new Parliament legally meets. During this period, the Constitution shall not undergo any revision, nor shall any organic laws be passed, amended or repealed.

(5) Bills or legislative proposals entered on the agenda of the preceding Parliament shall be carried over in the session of the new Parliament.

ARTICLE 64 - Organizational structure

(1) The organization and functioning of each Chamber shall be regulated by its own Standing Orders. Financial resources of the Chambers shall be provided for in the budgets approved by them.

(2) Each Chamber shall elect its Standing Bureau. The President of the Chamber of Deputies and the President of the Senate shall be elected for the Chambers' term of office. The other members of the Standing Bureaus shall be elected at the opening of each session. The members of the Standing Bureaus may be dismissed before the expiry of the term of office.

(3) Deputies and Senators may be organized into Parliamentary Groups, according to the Standing Orders of each Chamber.

(4) Each Chamber shall set up Standing Committees and may institute inquiry committees or other special committees. The Chambers may set up joint committees.

(5) The Standing Bureaus and Parliamentary Committees shall be made up so as to reflect the political spectrum of each Chamber.

ARTICLE 65 - Sittings of the Chambers

(1) The Chamber of Deputies and the Senate shall meet in separate sittings.

(2) The Chambers may also meet in joint sittings, based on the regulations passed by a majority vote of the Deputies and Senators, in order: a) to receive the message of the President of Romania; b) to approve the State budget and the State social security budget; c) to declare total or partial mobilization; d) to declare a state of war; e) to suspend or terminate armed hostilities; f) to approve the national strategy of homeland defence; g) to examine reports of the Supreme Council of National Defence; h) to appoint, based on proposals by the President of Romania, the directors of the intelligence services, and to exercise control over the activity of such services; i) to appoint the Advocate of the People; j) to establish the status of the Deputies and Senators, their emoluments, and other rights; k) to fulfil any other prerogatives, which - in accordance with the Constitution or the Standing Orders - shall be exercised in a joint sitting.

ARTICLE 66 - Sessions

(1) The Chamber of Deputies and the Senate shall meet in two ordinary sessions every year. The first session begins in February and is due to last by the end of June at the latest. The second session begins in September and is due to last by the end of December at the latest.

(2) The Chamber of Deputies and the Senate may also meet in extraordinary sessions, at the request of the President of Romania, the Standing Bureau of each Chamber or of at least one third of the number of Deputies or Senators.

(3) Each Chamber shall be convened by its president.

ARTICLE 67 - Acts of Parliament and legal quorum The Chamber of Deputies and the Senate shall pass laws, and carry resolutions and motions, in the presence of the majority of their members.

ARTICLE 68 - Publicity of sittings

(1) The sittings of both Chambers shall be public.

(2) The Chambers may decide that certain sittings be secret.