Multitudes rally against political corruption in Romania

Mass rallies persist nationwide despite scrapping of contentious decree that decriminalised some corruption offences.

An estimated 500,000 Romanians, including more than 200,000 in the capital, Bucharest, rallied on Sunday despite a government climbdown over a contentious corruption decree in the face of week-long mass demonstrations.

Fulfilling a promise made late on Saturday, the government announced on Sunday it had approved the withdrawal of controversial executive order that would have decriminalised certain grant offences and protected politicians from prosecution.

The ruling coalition led by Prime Minister Sorin Grindeanu had originally approved the ordinance late on Tuesday, with no input from the country’s parliament, sparking the biggest demonstrations in the country in decades.

After repealing the decree, Grindeanu asked the justice minister to prepare a draft law to be sent to parliament for debate and approval.

The centre-left Social Democratic Party has a parliamentary majority with a junior partner. President Klaus Iohannis, who is expected to speak later on Sunday, then needs to sign off on the legislation.

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