Chamber of Deputies, Senate to resume regular session today

The Chamber of Deputies and the Senate are starting today their second ordinary parliamentary session of the year. In the first meeting of each chamber, a new composition of their standing bureaus is elected, including their deputy chairs, secretaries, and treasurers. The election of the members to the standing bureaus is made at the proposal of the parliamentary groups, according to their weight and also the political configuration and the negotiation of the floor leaders. The lists of candidates for the standing bureaus are submitted to the vote of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies Marcel Ciolacu convened a meeting of the chamber's standing bureau today at 13:00hrs, and a plenary session at 16:00hrs. In the Senate, the meeting of the standing bureau is also convened for 13:00hrs, followed by a meeting of the floor groups at 14:00hrs and a plenary session at 16:00hrs. The ordinary session begins with a possible change in parliamentary majority, after the alliance of Liberals and Democrats (APDE) has pulled out of the government. In the Senate, the replacement of its chairman is expected as ALDE national leader and incumbent chairman Calin Popescu-Tariceanu announced last week, with the withdrawal of the ALDE from the governance, that he would resign his position as president of the Senate. National leader of the Social Democratic Party (PSD), which together with ALDE used to hold a majority, Viorica Dancila said on Saturday at Mamaia that after Tariceanu resigns his position, one of the PSD vice-presidents of this forum could be appointed acting chairman. She denied reports of her having discussed with ALDE floor leader Daniel Zamfir to take over the Senate chairmanship and switch parties. PSD Vice-President Gabriela Firea said that negotiations were currently underway between PSD and other parliamentary parties in order to maintain the majority. Senator Ilie Nita said last week that he had resigned from ALDE and joined PSD, but according to the procedure, that should be officially announced in the Senate plenary session. Under the Senate regulations, the chairman is elected by secret vote using ballot papers that carry, in descending order of the size of the parliamentary group, the name and surname of all the candidates put forth by the leaders of the parliamentary groups. Each parliamentary group can make only one proposal. Declared chairman of the Senate is the candidate who garners in the first round a majority of the votes cast by the attending senators. AGERPRES (RO - authors: Livia Popescu, Alina Novaceanu, editor: Marius Fratila; EN - author; Corneliu-Aurelian Colceriu, editor: Adina Panaitescu)