Romanian Constitutional Court upholds amendment that could end Timișoara mayor Fritz's mandate

CCR ruling on the Integrity Law

Romania's Constitutional Court (CCR) ruled on Monday, 17 August 2026, on several contested provisions of the new Integrity Law, striking down some while upholding the most politically sensitive one. Unanimously, the Court declared unconstitutional the phrase "persons with relationships similar to those between spouses," which would have forced life partners of officials to declare assets and interests. Also unanimously, it struck down the publication of financial interest declarations of spouses, and by majority, the publication of such declarations for the targeted officials and civil servants themselves.

However, by majority vote, the CCR upheld the provision that public office, dignity, or mandate ceases automatically 30 days after the law enters force for persons whose incompatibility or conflict of interest was definitively established before the law's enactment. This provision directly affects Dominic Fritz, USR leader and mayor of Timișoara, whose case the High Court of Cassation and Justice (ÎCCJ) definitively confirmed on 18 June 2026, upholding an ANI report that found him in administrative conflict of interest. Fritz was initially sanctioned with 10% of his salary.

Fritz's response

Fritz announced he would challenge the decision at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), describing the ruling as a validation of a "brutal abuse of power" by the PSD majority in the CCR. He said that if the president promulgates the law, his mayoral mandate will end in 30 days as a retroactive sanction for acts that occurred before the law took effect.

The road continues to the ECHR, where phone calls from Kiseleff do not reach. I will not fight for myself, but for the free vote given by the people of Timișoara.

Fritz explained that his "deed" was signing a duplicate of a report already signed by the former mayor on his second day in office in 2020, for an urban zone plan (PUZ) elaborated entirely before he became mayor. He noted that under the new law, normative acts such as a PUZ can no longer be classified as a conflict of interest, meaning ANI could not find a conflict even if it analyzed his 2020 signature today.

Presidential challenge and EU context

President Nicușor Dan had contested the law, arguing that the provision on life partners lacked objective criteria such as relationship duration, cohabitation, economic interdependence, or public acknowledgment. His partner, Mirabela Grădinaru, had already published her asset and interest declarations before the law was adopted. The CCR's unanimous decision to strike down the "spouse-like relationship" phrase effectively resolves this concern.

The Integrity Law is a milestone under Romania's PNRR recovery plan, and the country must adopt it by 31 August to avoid losing approximately 771 million euros in EU funds, according to one source. Fritz cited a figure of 770 million euros in his Facebook post.

What happens next

The law is not yet in force. Because several provisions were declared unconstitutional, the normative act must return to Parliament for alignment with the CCR decision. Only after the legislative procedure is completed, the law is promulgated by the president, and published in the Official Monitor can the 30-day mechanism begin to take effect. If the text on mandate termination remains in the form declared constitutional by the CCR and the law enters into force, Fritz's situation becomes directly subject to it.