The assembly is empowered to establish the general line of the country's foreign policy and has ultimate responsibility for the maintenance of public order and national defense. As a part of this responsibility the assembly appoints and recalls the supreme commander of the armed forces. Declarations of war, however, are constitutionally limited to the protection of Romanian national sovereignty in the event of aggression or in the event of aggression against another state with which Romania has mutual defense obligations.
Other powers attributed to the assembly include adopting and amending the Constitution and the general control over its application. Assembly authority extends as well to the interpretation of the Constitution and decisions on the constitutionality of laws, making it in effect its own constitutional court. In exercising that power the assembly elects the Constitutional Commission, which functions for the duration of the legislative term. The Constitution specifies that up to one-third of the commission members may be persons who are not deputies, but members of the Supreme Court, college and university teachers, and scientific researchers are specifically excluded from commission membership. Duties of the commission focus primarily on providing the assembly with reports and opinions on constitutional questions.
The Grand National Assembly functions under an elected chairman who presides over assembly sessions and is responsible for directing its activities. The chairman and four elected vice chairmen form the Bureau of the Grand National Assembly and are assisted in their duties by a panel of six executive secretaries. In addition to the Constitutional Commission, other standing commissions of the assembly include the Agriculture and Forestry Commission; Credentials Commission; Defense Commission; Economic and Financial Commission; Education, Science, and Culture Commission; Foreign Policy Commission; Health, Labor, and Social Welfare Commission; Industry, Construction, and Transportation Commission; Legal Commission; and the People's Councils and State Administration Commission. Any deputy may be elected to the standing commissions of the assembly or to temporary commissions created to perform specific functions. Reports, bills, or other legislative matters are submitted to the standing commissions by the assembly chairman for study and for recommendations on further action.
The assembly may function if one-half of the deputies plus one additional deputy are present. Laws and decisions are adopted by simple majority vote with the exception of an amendment to the Constitution, which requires a two-thirds majority of the total number of assembly deputies. Laws and decisions are signed by the presiding officer present at the time the decision is voted. Within ten days after adoption, laws are required to be signed by the president of the Council of State and published in the Official Bulletin of the Socialist Republic of Romania.
The Council of State
Described as the supreme body of state power with a permanent activity, the Council of State exercises certain permanent powers as well as special powers that fall to it when the Grand National Assembly is not in session. Formed of nineteen members, the Council of State is elected by the assembly, from its own membership, at the first assembly session as it begins a new term of office. The council's authority continues until the election of a new Council of State by the succeeding legislature. Although the president of the council is the head of state, the Constitution asserts that the functioning of the council is to be based on the principle of collective leadership. Almost all the members of the Council of State also hold leading party posts.
Among the most important permanent powers of the Council of State are the establishment of election dates; the appointment and recall of the heads of central government agencies, except for the Council of Ministers; and the ratification or denunciation of international treaties. The president of the council represents the republic in international relations. Other permanent powers include the granting of senior military ranks; the conferral of honors; the granting of citizenship, pardon, and refuge; and the appointment and recall of diplomatic representatives.
Grand National Assembly powers that devolve to the Council of State between assembly sessions, or in the event of exceptional circumstances that prevent the assembly from acting, include the authority to appoint and recall members of the Council of Ministers, members of the Supreme Court, and the prosecutor general. Also included in this category are powers to establish norms having the power of law, control over the application of laws and decisions passed by the assembly, and supervision of the Council of Ministers and other central administrative bodies as well as the activities of the people's councils.
Although the legal decisions passed by the council must be submitted for approval to the next session of the Grand National Assembly, they take effect as law immediately on passage by the council or on a date specified in the ruling itself. In the event of a national emergency the Council of State can also exercise the assembly's power to declare a state of war, subject to the same qualifications imposed upon the assembly—that is, in the event that Romania or one of its allies is the victim of external armed aggression.
In December 1967 PCR General Secretary Ceausescu was elected president of the Council of State by the Grand National Assembly and, by virtue of this position, became the head of state. The reason given for the concentration of the principal party and government positions in Ceausescu's hands was the desire to provide unitary leadership both as a means of efficiency and of ensuring full party control at the highest level of the government. The decision to unite the two posts, as well as to combine a number of party and government positions on lower administrative levels, had been taken at a national party conference a few days earlier and followed action taken by the PCR Central Committee in October. Outside observers saw the move as one of a series of steps designed to ensure the continued subordination of the state apparatus to the party.