The 1965

Constitution of Romania The current Constitution of Romania is the seventh permanent constitution in modern Romania's history. It is the fundamental governing document of Romania that establishes the structure of its government, the rights and obligations of citizens, ...

was drafted by a committee of the Great National Assembly (MAN) and approved by a plenary session of the Central Committee of the

Romanian Communist Party The Romanian Communist Party ( ; PCR) was a communist party in Romania. The successor to the pro-Bolshevik wing of the Socialist Party of Romania, it gave an ideological endorsement to a communist revolution that would replace the social system ...

on June 28, 1965. It was then debated at the party's 9th Congress in July and adopted by the MAN, sitting as a Constituent Assembly, on August 21, being published in ''

Monitorul Oficial ''Monitorul Oficial al României'' is the official government gazette, gazette of Romania, in which all the promulgation, promulgated bills, President of Romania, presidential decrees, Government of Romania, governmental ordinances and other m ...

'' that day.Stoica, pp.93-4 It was Romania's sixth constitution, and the third of the Communist era. The document that formed the legal basis for the dictatorship of

Nicolae Ceaușescu Nicolae Ceaușescu ( ; ; – 25 December 1989) was a Romanian politician who was the second and last Communism, communist leader of Socialist Romania, Romania, serving as the general secretary of the Romanian Communist Party from 1965 u ...

(who had come to power that March), this constitution brought changes to the organization and name of the state, and to the expression of its foreign policy. It changed the state's official name from the Romanian People's Republic to the

Socialist Republic of Romania The Socialist Republic of Romania (, RSR) was a Marxism–Leninism, Marxist–Leninist One-party state, one-party socialist state that existed officially in Romania from 1947 to 1989 (see Revolutions of 1989). From 1947 to 1965, the state was ...

. The "brotherly" alliance with the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

was replaced with the principle of "respect for national sovereignty and independence, equality of rights and reciprocal advantage, non-interference in internal matters". The state enhanced its involvement in the

economy An economy is an area of the Production (economics), production, Distribution (economics), distribution and trade, as well as Consumption (economics), consumption of Goods (economics), goods and Service (economics), services. In general, it is ...

("it organises, plans and leads the national economy") and had a monopoly on foreign trade. Like its

1948 Events January * January 1 ** The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is inaugurated. ** The current Constitutions of Constitution of Italy, Italy and of Constitution of New Jersey, New Jersey (both later subject to amendment) ...

and

1952 Events January–February * January 26 – Cairo Fire, Black Saturday in Kingdom of Egypt, Egypt: Rioters burn Cairo's central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses. * February 6 ** Princess Elizabeth, ...

predecessors, it granted a series of freedoms, including speech, press, assembly, meetings and demonstrations. These rights were effectively neutered in practice by a provision that banned organizations "of a fascist or antidemocratic character" (carried over from its predecessors), and another that forbade the exercise of constitutional freedoms "for purposes against the socialist structure and the interests of those who work". As for the state organisation, alongside the MAN, which in theory remained the supreme leadership organ, the office of

president of the republic The President of the Republic is a title used for heads of state and/or heads of government in countries having republican form of government. Designation In most cases the president of a republic is elected, either: * by direct universal s ...

appeared for the first time in Romanian history (via a 1974 amendment), with attributes that gave it, in the framework of the existing system, dictatorial powers. The 1965 Constitution was modified 10 times between 1968 and 1986, after which it contained 121 articles in 9 titles. It was partly abrogated in

December 1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...

, following the

Revolution In political science, a revolution (, 'a turn around') is a rapid, fundamental transformation of a society's class, state, ethnic or religious structures. According to sociologist Jack Goldstone, all revolutions contain "a common set of elements ...

; some clauses continued in operation until December 8, 1991, when the current constitution was adopted.

Notes

References

* Stoica, Stan (coordinator). ''Dicționar de Istorie a României''. Bucharest: Editura Merona, 2007.

External links

Text of the constitution
{{DEFAULTSORT:1965 Constitution Of Romania Socialist Republic of Romania Constitutions of Romania Constitution Of Romania, 1965 1965 in law

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