Now it is up to the Romanian Voters to vote on the 6th or the 7th of October.
More
than two years ago, 3 million Romanians requested a referendum to define
marriage as a union between one man and one woman. Finally, the hurdles for the
organization of the referendum were removed. After the last vote in the
Romanian senate with 107 votes in favour, 13 against and 7 abstentions and
following the approval of the Romanian Constitutional Court, the Government set
the date for the referendum: the 6th and the 7th of October. If there is a
majority for YES with a minimum turnout of 6 million (30% of 18 million
voters), then the constitution will be amended.Following
Croatia and Slovenia, now also in Romania a Citizens’ Initiative has been
established to request an amendment to the constitution so that marriage can be
defined as a union between one man and
one woman. In both Slovenia and Croatia, the referendum took place and has
resulted in amendments to the
constitution. These countries are not the only examples . Also in
Bulgaria, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland similar definitions of marriage
have been introduced in the constitution. It seems that this has also become
more of a cultural battle between Western and Eastern European countries.
Because of this, the definition of marriage is not a European competence and
every country has the freedom to introduce their own definition of marriage and
family in their legislation.
This
unfortunately did not hold back interest groups and certain diplomats from
putting pressure on the Romanian
government to block the organization of this referendum. Around 29 members of
the European Parliament Intergroup on LGBTI Rights attempted to interfere in
the internal political processes of Romania by writing a letter to the Romanian
political leadership requesting the blockage of this referendum. This led to a
counter reaction of 40 Member of the European Parliament who supported in a letter to the Romanian authorities the
organization of the referendum. In this letter, they cited the need to respect
the democratic processes in Romania and the fact that the definition of
marriage is not a European competence.
Moreover,
different organizations and even Euronews started to frame the referendum as
“intolerant” and “homophobic”. Additionally, people opposing the referendum called for a boycott
to the referendum so that the required participation threshold will not
be reached. The Romanian Government dismisses these accusations and says that
“The referendum is not against sexual minorities, as some are speculating. The
referendum to redefine family is an effect of a citizens’ initiative and
political parties should respect the will of their people. Instead of calling
for a boycott of this referendum, it would be more sincere if parties take a clear
position to this proposed theme for the referendum”.
I
believe that (regardless of the outcome of the vote) if the participation threshold will be
reached and the Romanian referendum will
be validated, it will act as a catalyst for increased citizen involvement in
Romanian pollical and social life. The role of civil society will therefore be
enhanced leading to more similar initiatives. I believe that a referendum is a
good instrument when people clearly can
identify themselves with the issue (whether for or against it). It can also
lead to open debates and discussions on different societal issues. In the
Romanian context, I believe that this instrument can be very helpful and should
not be neglected. Not only the definition of family but also the Romanian democratic
developments are at stake here.
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