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    STUDIA EUROPAEA - Issue no. 1 / 2014  
         
  Article:   MYTHS, CLICHÉS AND POPULISM IN THE ROMANIAN CONSTITUTION’S REVISION PROCESS. A COMPARISON WITH THE HUNGARIAN CASE.

Authors:  VALENTIN NAUMESCU.
 
       
         
  Abstract:   Ten years after the previous revision in 2003, the Parliament of Romania launches a new process of amending the post-communist Constitution of 1991. The envisaged revision should basically update the Romanian political system according to the first seven years of experience that Romania has as an EU member state. Beyond all political and juridical aspects of the constitutional revision, a number of pressures deriving from economic, social, cultural, religious or ethnic local patterns should also be considered. From myths and clichés to populism(s), specific interests and even European reflections, the equation involves a whole range of formal and informal forces which traditionally shape politics and society. The article looks over the main populist expressions, beliefs and attitudes regarding the revision of the Constitution and explores their possible consequences on the final outcome. At the time of working for this article, in the early spring of 2013 the parliamentary procedures are in progress. The central question around which I build up the entire demarche is whether the populist approaches have a decisive role in the constitutional revision or not. The “unacceptable comparison” (in Romanian Prime Minister’s words) with Hungary’s recent experience and its controversial amended Constitution is meant only to emphasize the context of changing the fundamental law during severely unbalanced parliaments while the direction and substance of amendments are indeed considerably different.

Keywords: Romania, Hungary, Constitution, revision, Parliament, populism, referendum
 
         
     
         
         
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