THE CONSTITUTIONAL COURT GIVES TRAIAN BĂSESCU A PRESENT FOR HIS BIRTHDAY The laws that caused the fall of the government led by Emil Boc are constitutional!

• One visit from the IMF was enough to help Romania beat the planned number of constitutional laws

The Constitutional Court did not need to wait and see who would be the next president, to rule on whether the laws that the parliament voted down were in compliance with the constitution or not.

No, the Constitutional Court did not need any additional time for consideration until December 9th, as initially announced, on whether the Law of Unified wages is constitutional or not.

All the excuses of the Constitutional Court - that it is hard to make an informed decision on this delicate issue and time is required for a proper evaluation - were quickly swept aside after the IMF officials threatened they would not disburse the 1.5 billion Euros installment if we didn"t pass the Law of unified wages by December 10th.

And so, yesterday, the Constitutional Court found that (in spite of the complexity of the issue) all three laws are constitutional:

- The law on reorganizing some public authorities and institutions, the downsizing of public spending, supporting the business environment and meeting the framework agreements with the European Commission and the International Monetary Fund;

- The framework law for the unified salaries of public sector workers;

- The law of national education.

Thus, the Constitutional Court beat the required number of constitutional laws it needed to pass (while at the same time giving Traian Băsescu a present for his birthday).

If it"s the IMF requesting it, then it won"t matter who wins the presidential elections.

These laws seem useful (even though for the time being they haven"t been carefully evaluated).

Even though they seem useful, I have the embarrassing feeling that we have to the point where we need to IMF to get our domestic affairs in order.

I"m ashamed.