The Judicial Commission of the Romanian Senate decided again on Tuesday to postpone debates on the draft law on lustration, due to considerable absenteeism. The draft legislation supports a ban for people who belonged to the Communist power structures to run in elections or be named public officials.

The draft law tries to prevent participation to current decision-making by people who held seats in the Romanian Communist Party leadership, the Communist Youth Movement, the Grand National Assembly and the Communist governments before 1989. Professors of the political school Stefan Gheorghiu, diplomats and magistrates as well as journalists who worked for party newspapers are also eyed.

The legislation has been pushed by a group of Liberal MPs led by Mona Musca and has been approved by the Government.

But the initiative sparked disputes earlier this month when it reached the Judicial Commission of the Senate.

While other CEE countries including the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland have adopted such laws, debates on lustration in Romania have been reaching dead ends for 16 years, a fact the media blames on top political officials linked to the former Communist regime, who’ve been trying to defend their seats.