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Romania The State Council
The Constitution stipulated that the State Council was
the
supreme body of state power in permanent session, and that
it
assumed certain GNA powers when that body was out of
session. As of
mid-1989, the State Council consisted of the president of
the State
Council, four vice presidents, a secretary to the
president, and
fifteen members. At its first session, the newly elected
GNA
selected the State Council from its own membership. The
council
remained in office until another was elected by the
succeeding GNA.
Although the president of the State Council was
simultaneously the
president of the republic, the Constitution dictated that
the
council was to function on the principle of collective
leadership.
In 1989 all but two members of the State Council were also
members
of the PCR Central Committee and held other important
party posts.
Amendments to the Constitution adopted in 1974 reduced
the
scope of the power of the State Council power in favor of
the power
of the president. In this connection, Article 63 listed
only five
permanent powers for the State Council, as opposed to
eleven in the
1965 Constitution. Among the powers that were deleted were
appointing and recalling the supreme commander of the
armed forces;
representing the republic in international relations;
granting
citizenship, amnesty, and asylum; and appointing and
recalling
diplomatic representatives.
Other permanent powers of the State Council were
establishing
election dates; ratifying or rejecting international
treaties
(except for those whose ratification or rejection was
within the
purview of the GNA); and establishing decorations and
honorary
titles. The provision in the 1965 text of the Constitution
giving
the State Council the right to appoint and recall the
heads of
central bodies of state administration (excluding the
Council of
Ministers) was replaced with the nebulous stipulation that
the
State Council "organizes the ministries and other central
state
bodies," another limitation of its prerogatives.
GNA powers that devolved to the State Council between
assembly
sessions or when exceptional circumstances prevented the
GNA from
acting included the authority to appoint and recall
members of the
Council of Ministers and members of the Supreme Court. The
right to
appoint or recall the prosecutor general was omitted in
the 1974
amended Constitution. The State Council could also assume
powers to
establish legal norms, to control the application of laws
and
decisions passed by the GNA, and to supervise the Council
of
Ministers, the ministries and the other central bodies of
state
administration as well as the activities of the people's
councils.
In the event of a national emergency, the State Council
could also
exercise the GNA's power to declare a state of war.
In December 1967, the GNA elected PCR General Secretary
Ceausescu president of the State Council, thereby making
him head
of state. The rationale for concentrating party and
government
power in Ceausescu's hands was to provide unitary
leadership and
thereby improve efficiency and ensure full party control
at the
highest level of government. The decision to unite the two
posts,
as well as to combine a number of party and government
positions on
lower administrative levels, had been taken at a national
party
conference. Outside observers saw the move as one of a
series of
steps designed to ensure the continued subordination of
both the
party and the state apparatus to Ceausescu's personal
power.
Data as of July 1989
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