Basescu told a news conference he hopes the bill doesn’t get sent to him for promulgation and if it does, he pledged to send it to the Constitutional Court.
“The fair solution would be for the government to immediately pull the bill from Parliament,” Basescu said, adding social tension will only mount as long as the bill is in Parliament.
Thousands of people in Bucharest and other cities across the country have been rallying for two weeks against the government-backed bill allowing the start of a gold mining project in Rosia Montana, western Romania.
Plans to open the gold mine have been on and off for the past 14 years because of environmental concerns entailed by cyanide mining. However, according to a draft agreement between the Romanian government and Canada’s Gabriel Resources, which holds 80.69% in the joint-venture developing the project, the bill allows the company to open the gold mine in 2016.