Romanian parliament begins procedures to suspend president

The move comes two days after the ruling Social Liberal Union changed the two speakers of the parliament.

Basescu, accompanied by several presidential advisers, participated at the plenary meeting. According to him, only the constitutional court could decide whether the move to have him suspended from office is constitutional.

Newly-elected Senate President Crin Antonescu announced late Wednesday that the standing bureaux of parliament decided to convene an extraordinary session in the following two days to deal with the proposed suspension.

According to him, there will be two plenary meetings of the two law-making chambers. On Thursday, they will request and read the petition for the president's suspension, and on Friday, vote to pass it.

The ruling alliance claims in its petition that Basescu has repeatedly violated the principle of separation of power in the state and the independence of the judiciary.

"President Basescu proved by his palpable actions carried out over the three years of presidency that he has an arbitrary view, totally opposed to the principle of separation and balance of powers in the state," a document in the lawmakers' plenary sitting by Social Democratic Senator Toni Grebla read.

"Basescu has stirred crises in the relations between the presidency and major public authorities, violating and disregarding their competence, denying their activity and blemishing their credibility," it added.

It is the second time Basescu is faced with possible suspension, after having survived the last attempt in 2007.

Within a few hours on Tuesday, the Social Liberal Union replaced the presidents of the parliament's two chambers. This created a huge outcry and led to the current drive to oust him from office.

The union, made up of the Social Democratic Party, the National Liberal Party and the Conservative Party, came to power in late April after a no-confidence motion toppled the 78-day-long center-right government led by former intelligence chief Mihai Razvan Ungureanu.

The ruling alliance won most of the seats in local elections on June 10.