Legislative Initiatives

As a Member of Parliament, I have the opportunity to initiate or sign proposals that amend the legislation in force. I wish that through these, the interest of the citizens and administrative transparency to be respected.

The legislative proposals initiated by me are closely related to the priorities of my mandate and the causes for which I fight. Some of these are:

1. Draft bill regarding harassment in public spaces

L84/2018 – Legislative proposal for completing Law 202/2002 on equality of opportunity and treatment between men and women, so that sexual and psychological harassment are to be banned in both public and private spaces.

• For the first time in Romania, I proposed the sanctioning of street harassment, a phenomenon that affects 8 out of 10 women in our country.
• Through this initiative, sexual and psychological harassment is to be banned in both public and private spaces.
• Every day, women in Romania are assaulted and humiliated by harassment – in schools and universities, at work, on the street, in public transport and in public institutions. Harassment is violence, and violence can no longer be tolerated in a European country in 2018.

• In this moment, there is no provision in Romania addressing harassment in public spaces, despite repeated requests from both civil society and European directives. Harassment is only mentioned in the Penal Code, being restrictive only in the case of working relations.

The bill was adopted by Parliament and became law. It was published in the Official Gazette of Romania on August 6, 2018.

2. Draft bill for moral harassment in the workplace

L204 / 10.04.2018 Legislative proposal for amending and supplementing the Emergency Ordinance 137 / 2000 on the prevention and sanctioning of all forms of discrimination and Law 202 / 2002 on equality of opportunity between men and women.

• • Proposes punishing harassment in the workplace, including psychological, moral – Romanian employees are among the most stressed in the EU and we are first place for depressive disorders, which can result from this type of harassment
  • In order to explain the reasons behind the draft law, multiple scientific studies, documents and provisions of the European institutions were cited, including:
    • • • • • Treaty establishing the European Economic Community regarding the working environment
            • Decisions of the Court of Justice of the European Union
            • Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union
            • European Parliament resolution 2001/2339 on moral harassment in the workplace
            • EU framework agreement on stress in the workplace
            • Framework agreement on harassment and violence in the workplace
            • EP resolution of December 15, 2011 calling for effective national strategies for combating violence in the workplace and a common definition of moral harassment in the 28 Member States.
            • Framework Directive 89/391 / EEC on mental health at work
            • EU strategic framework on health and safety in the workplace 2014-2020

Studies show that, in practice, women face more moral harassment in the workplace than men.

Forms of harassment in the workplace: hostile or unwanted behavior, comments, actions or gestures of the employer, of the supervisor or of colleagues that would lead to a deterioration of working conditions by harming the rights or dignity, by affecting physical or mental health or by compromising the professional future of employees.

The proposal is currently in the Senate, being discussed in the Standing Committees. You can read the reasons HERE and the text of the law HERE.

3. Increasing the age at which children from the Child Protection System are sent to residential type placement centers to 7 years old

• A first step of the trans-partisan collaboration of women for promoting necessary and beneficial projects regarding the protection of children, equal opportunities, education, health, protection and safety, entrepreneurship and others, 65 deputies and senators, including members of the Government, signed the initiative.
• The World Bank, UNICEF and DGASPC conducted a study on the 150 placement centers in Romania. The recommendations were that all the approximately 19 000 children from residential type placement centers would gradually go through de-institutionalization: to be moved to small parental centers, with social workers or to family placement by 2020. This initiative is in support of Romania’s commitment to the European Commission.

• The cost supported by the Romanian state regarding the placement of a child in residential centers is six times higher than if the minor is placed in the extended or substitute family and three times higher than the placement with maternal assistants.

This initiative was promulgated by the President and became law, being published in the Official Gazette of Romania on November 29, 2018.

I invite you to consult all the legislative proposals that I initiated or signed until now. You can find these HERE. If you have any questions or proposals, do not forget to send them to my official address oana.bizgan@cdep.ro or on the online form HERE.