The Prefecture of the Vrancea county in Eastern Romania sent shockwaves on Thursday when it announced that it considered as illegal all decisions taken by the local district council that led to the dismissal of council head Marian Oprisan last month.
Oprisan is a representative of the opposition Social Democrats (PSD) and a symbol of the so-called “local barons”, officials with near absolute personal powers at local level across Romania when the PSD governed the country in 2000-04.
On September 27, 22 district councilors decided to remove Oprisan as head of the council arguing that he had brought prejudice to the image of the institution after becoming the target of an anti-corruption case. Supported by the PSD, Oprisan refused to comply with the decision.
Not, the Vrancea Prefecture says the council decisions linked to Oprisan’s removal from office were illegal because the documents did not contain a series of essential data - not even the name of the authority that issued them.
