The Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR) proposes, in a legislative bill submitted to Parliament, limiting the duration and number of terms for the heads of certain public institutions in order to reduce the 'risk of excessive concentration of power.'

According to a statement by AUR, the bill stipulates that the directors of the Romanian Intelligence Service, the Foreign Intelligence Service, the Protection and Guard Service, the General Directorate for Internal Protection, the General Directorate for Defense Intelligence, and the Special Telecommunications Service may serve five-year terms, with a maximum of two terms per person.

AUR Senator Nicolae Vlahu, one of the bill's initiators, argues that limiting the tenure of an institution's head to two terms is necessary to prevent the excessive concentration of power and the formation of circles of influence, particularly within structures that have access to sensitive information and perform functions vital to state security.

'We believe that two terms provide the time needed to implement a vision and demonstrate results. After this period, there must be room for other professionals to take over leadership. We also propose that partial terms count as full terms, as interrupting a term should not allow for circumventing the legally established limit,' stated Nicolae Vlahu, as quoted in the press release.

The initiative also aims to limit the terms of office for the leadership of institutions such as the National Bank of Romania, the National Audiovisual Council, the National Council for Combating Discrimination, the National Council for the Study of the Securitate Archives, and the National Registry Office for Classified Information.

AUR believes that 'holding key positions for extended periods, in the absence of clear limits on the duration and number of terms, can fuel suspicions regarding the independence of institutions and foster conflicts of interest.'

According to the draft, partially served terms count as full terms and are included in the calculation of the established limit; for positions that previously had no maximum duration, the new term begins to run upon the law's entry into force. AGERPRES (RO - writing by: Livia Popescu; EN - writing by: Catalin Cristian Trandafir)

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