BUCHAREST (REUTERS) - Romania's prime minister said on Saturday (Feb 4) he was scrapping a decree that would have shielded dozens of politicians from prosecution for corruption, bowing to one of the biggest protests since the fall of dictator Nicolae Ceausescu in 1989. A day after Prime Minister Sorin Grindeanu said he did not want to divide Romania, his cabinet held an emergency meeting to scrap the decree as tens of thousands of demonstrators outside chanted "Thieves, thieves" and "Re-sig-na-tion, Re-sig-na-tion". Dragnea, whose conviction for electoral fraud barred him from office, is accused of using his political influence to secure state salaries for two people working at his party headquarters between 2006 and 2013. It said the decree was a bid to relieve pressure on the prison system but Romanians were furious, holding the biggest mass protests in the country since 1989, when the Communist regime of Nicolae Ceausescu was ousted in a bloody revolution. Seen by its critics as the biggest retreat on reforms since Romania joined the European Union in 2007, the decree would have exempted abuse-of-power offences involving sums below 200,000 lei (US$48,000) from prosecution - shielding hundreds of officials from justice. Germany and the United States were among nine western powers which had expressed concern that the decree could undermine Romania's partnerships in the EU and NATO.
Romanian Prime Minister Sorin Grindeanu announces that his government will scrap its proposed decree of decriminalizing some graft offenses on Sunday.