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A demonstration against decrees to pardon corrupt politicians and decriminalise other offences, on Jan. 29.

Romanias president urged the government to reverse a surprise decision to quashcorruption investigations into officials andannul some other convictions after the measures drew thousands of protesters into the streets of major cities.

About 12,000 people ralliedin freezing temperatures late Tuesday in Bucharest,demanding the government step down. At least 8,000 gathered elsewhere in the eastern European nation. The cabinet earlier backed proposals that had sparked the biggest protests since the fall of communism.Some of the changes require parliamentary approval, while others have already been published in the official journal.

This damages the judiciary and breaches its independence,President Klaus Iohannis said Wednesday, after meeting members of the Superior Council of Magistrates, which monitors the courts and is challenging the governments measures. The only option I wont accept is doing nothing about it. We must make a stand at an institutional level.

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More than 1,000 demonstrators remainedin Bucharest on Wednesday, with further demonstrations planned for the evening. The turmoil sent the leu 1.2 percent weaker, heading to the biggest decline in more than 3 1/2 years and more than erasing its 2017 gain against the euro.

Concerns have arisenin other parts of the region that democracy is under threat. The EU has reprimanded Poland and Hungary for state encroachment on thejudiciary and the media. The government in Warsaw backed away from plans to tighten abortion rules after mass protests. European Commission President Jean Claude Juncker criticized Romanias actions on Wednesday.

The fight against corruption needs to be advanced, not undone, Juncker said in a statement. Were following the latest developments in Romania with great concern.

The government says its trying to relieve overcrowded prisons, where conditions have led to cases being filed with the European Court for Human Rights.I took into account all the requests of the people and amended the bills, Justice Minister Florin Iordache said Wednesday. He said he stands-by his plan, despite the protests.

If the pardons legislation is approved, prisoners serving sentences shorter than five years --excluding rapists and multiple offenders -- will befreed, according to Iordache. A separate emergency decree decriminalized abuse of public office for offenses concerning less than 200,000 lei ($48,000) of damages.

Anti-graft prosecutors, whove locked up hundreds of corrupt officials in a four-year clampdown, said Wednesday that theyre currently working on more than 2,000abuse-of-office cases. In the past two years alone, theyve sent more than 1,000 people to trial, seeking to recover damages in excess of 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion).

Romania ranks fourth-worst for graft in the EU, according to Berlin-based Transparency International. Social Democratic leader Liviu Dragnea is serving a two-year suspended sentence for electoral fraud and faces anotherabuse-of-office probe in which he denies wrongdoing.

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Romanians Flood Streets as Cabinet Defies Protests Over Pardons - Bloomberg