AUR Announces Public Debates to Amend the Bill on Honoring National Symbols

AUR and General Mircia Chelaru announced the initiation of debates and public consultations to improve the draft law on honoring national symbols. The initiative, currently under consideration in the Chamber of Deputies after passing the Senate, has sparked controversy, including because of the provision concerning the obligation to kiss the flag at ceremonies organized for Tricolor Day.

The formation maintains that the draft could be amended following the observations and criticism received in the public sphere. AUR states that it does not want the regulation to become an additional source of tension and polarization and proposes that the debate take place transparently, in Parliament, together with the Chamber of Deputies’ Committee for Defense, Public Order and National Security.

Representatives of parliamentary parties, the Romanian Patriarchate and the other recognized religious denominations, the Romanian Army, public institutions, academia, civic organizations, veterans’ associations, and specialists in constitutional law and state protocol are invited to the consultations.

AUR takes responsibility for the draft but declares that it is open to amendments. The formation maintains that the rules concerning the Flag, the Coat of Arms, the Anthem and National Day must be “clear,” “balanced,” and discussed in such a way that the symbols of the state “unite society, rather than divide it.”