BUCHAREST  - Pro-government Romanian MPs Wednesday began moves to sack President Traian Basescu as the cabinet curbed the powers of top judges amid heightened feuding between Basescu and Prime Minister Victor Ponta.The actions of Ponta's centre-left coalition have sparked widespread condemnation from inside and outside Romania, with some analysts Wednesday calling them blatantly illegal.Lawmakers from the three-party Liberal Social Union (USL) had called a special session of the house on Thursday and Friday to debate stripping the centre-right president of his official powers, new speaker Valeriu Zgonea said.At the same time the government approved a decree barring the Constitutional Court from ruling on parliamentary decisions, making it easier for the governing majority to impeach Basescu.Under the constitution, the president can be deprived of his powers by parliament for "serious" violation of the basic law, but the 17-page document to be put to MPs makes no specific accusations against Basescu.If approved by parliament, Basescu's sacking must be voted on in a referendum within 30 days.The USL did succeed in suspending the president in May 2007 but he was restored to office by the subsequent referendum.However his popularity has plummeted since, notably because of austerity measures he enforced in 2010 in agreement with the European Union and International Monetary Fund. The last centre-right government fell in May following a no-confidence vote, bringing Ponta to power.The cabinet decree came only hours after Ponta's Social-Democrat Party (PSD) said he had asked for official complaints made against the judges of the Constitutional Court to be withdrawn."The prime minister wants to send a strong signal through this gesture of the absolute respect of the independence of democratic institutions and on the integrity of the Romanian judiciary system," a PSD statement said.The latest moves follow a decision by both houses of parliament on Tuesday to sack their opposition Liberal Democratic Party (PDL) speakers.Both the European Union and United States voiced deep concern about attacks on democracy in Romania, while the Romanian press weighed in on Wednesday.Newspaper Adevarul said the USL had "trampled on the rules of parliament and laws of the country," and Romania Libera attacked "a violent assault against the rule of law" and "actions of a totalitarian character".Rights groups said the rule of law was under "unprecedented attack" from the USL in an open letter to the European Commission. The groups, including the local branches of democracy monitor Freedom House and human rights watchdog the Helsinki Committee, called on the commission to respond to this "drift towards a non-democratic regime"."Serious steps taken in the last few days ... will potentially affect the independence of institutions and the separation of powers," they wrote. University of Bucharest constitutional law professor Ioan Stanomir told AFP: "What is happening exceeds constitutional rules. We are witnessing a suspension of the Constitution and its replacement by the arbitrary will of a parliamentary majority."Erste Bank analysts condemned acts they said were unprecedented and barely legal, while economist Laurian Lungu told the website HotNews.ro that the political crisis would have a negative effect on the struggling economy.The Constitutional Court, which on Tuesday protested at the government's "virulent attacks" against it, infuriated Ponta last week by ruling that the president and not the prime minister should represent Romania at EU summits.Parliamentary elections are scheduled later this year while Basescu's mandate has two years to run.On Tuesday Basescu accused his rivals of seeking to take control of the judiciary in order to impeach him."By seriously violating the laws and the constitution, they have put the Romanian state and its 22 million people in an extremely difficult situation," he said.Ponta's moves have echoes of the situation in neighbouring Hungary, where Prime Minister Viktor Orban has tightened his hold on institutions such as the judiciary and the media but at the cost of international isolation.