Romanian president fined for offending politicians

BUCHAREST, Romania – A government council has fined Romania’s president for referring to politicians indicted or convicted on corruption charges as “offenders.”

The National Council to Fight Discrimination voted 5-4 on Tuesday to fine President Klaus Iohannis 2,000 lei ($510.) Iohannis used the word in February to describe politicians he said were “desperately trying” to discredit the anti-corruption agency that has prosecuted a number of senior officials.

Iohannis says the decision was politically motivated and he will appeal. The president a critic of Romania’s left-wing government.

Later Tuesday, he gave a speech marking Europe Day in which he criticized politicians “inconvenienced by European standards of authentic democracy.”

Iohannis said that without the rule of law, “there is no prosperity … for most citizens, just privileges for a tight circle of people in power.”