In early February 2006, concluding his report on the "Concept of Nation", Frunda caused controversy in his country after promoting the PACE Recommendation 1735, which, through its reference to a previous PACE document, Recommendation 43 (1998), was interpreted as a call for ethnic and regional autonomy in respect to regions such as Transylvania. In addition, Frunda was quoted as saying he did not endorse the nation-state as defined by the Romanian Constitution, and as stating "I do not represent Romania the Council of Europe. I am the head of the Romanian Delegation, elected by 10 members who represented Romania at a parliamentary level". In reaction, the National Initiative Party, represented by independent Romanian parliamentarians, called for Frunda to be reprimanded by the Senate. Replying, Frunda indicated that the Recommendation was ineffectual in respect to Romania, and pointed out that all states who agreed to join the European Union implicitly accepted to delegate powers of their respective national governments, stressing that his argument about the nation-state made reference to this latter process.