Tag: 20 years

  • September 27, 2022

    September 27, 2022

    Justice – Debates continue today in Romania’s Parliament on the articles of the law on the status of judges and prosecutors. The special parliamentary committee has already been discussing for several days the last bill from the package of new justice laws drafted by the Government. On Monday the senators and deputies from the special parliamentary committee continued the article-by-article debate of the draft law on the status of judges and prosecutors and managed to adopt approximately 180 articles out of the 294 of the law. Most of the articles passed in the form submitted by the executive. Also on Monday, the report on the draft law on judicial organization was adopted by the parliamentary committee, a document that today enters the plenary debate of the Chamber of Deputies, as the first body notified.



    Tokyo – The Romanian Prime Minister, Nicolae Ciucă, and the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, Marcel Ciolacu, are in Japan, where they participate, today, in the state funeral organized in honor of the former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who had a decisive contribution to the launch of the actions meant to take the relations between the two countries at the level of a strategic partnership. The participation of 4,300 people, including 700 from abroad, was announced for the ceremony. Among them are approximately fifty leaders or former leaders of foreign countries, including the US vice-president, Kamala Harris, and the president of the European Council, Charles Michel. Shinzo Abe was killed, on July 8, by a former officer, with a homemade gun, during a campaign speech. On Monday, Nicolae Ciuca met with his Japanese counterpart, Fumio Kishida, with whom he discussed the security and defense component, one of the four cooperation pillars of the future Strategic Partnership, and also economic cooperation, given that Japan is the largest Asian investor in Romania. The Japanese Prime Minister assured his Romanian counterpart of his full support for the conclusion of the Strategic Partnership and the consolidation of bilateral cooperation, including at external level, in the regional and international context that requires the protection of democracy and the rule of law.



    Referendum — The so-called referendums on the annexation to the Russian Federation of the Ukrainian territories occupied by Moscows troops are ending today. Held as of Friday in the separatist regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, in the east, and in those invaded since spring, Kherson and Zaporozhe, in the south, the alleged people’s consultations were denounced as a “simulacrum” by Ukraine and its Western allies. The so-called G7 group, gathering the worlds seven richest democracies, has warned that it will “never recognize” the results of the referendums, while Washington has vowed a “swift and severe” response, through further economic sanctions, to these annexations, which follow the model of the annexation of the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea in March 2014. Communist China, a close partner of Moscow, did not denounce the referendums, but demanded respect for the “territorial integrity of all countries”. The so-called local authorities, instated by the invading Russian army, announced that the “provisional results” of the referendums should be announced on Tuesday evening or in the coming days. The Russian Parliament will then have to vote on a text formalizing the integration of the four Ukrainian regions into Russia.



    Corruption – The Romanian President, Klaus Iohannis, said on Tuesday, upon the anniversary of 20 years of existence of the National Anti-Corruption Directorate, that the work of anti-corruption prosecutors must be doubled by a clear, coherent legislation that guarantees the independence of the judiciary and creates the necessary mechanisms for the good functioning of the prosecutors’ offices. The president also said that the reform of the justice laws must be completed in accordance with the recommendations of European bodies. Klaus Iohannis emphasized that, with each step taken in the fight against corruption at all levels, Romania is closer to concluding the MCV, joining the Schengen area and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. “A society in which corruption is sanctioned gives citizens confidence in the state and tells investors and external partners that there is predictability and stability” President Iohannis concluded.



    Football – Romanias national football team defeated, on Monday evening, in Bucharest, Bosnias national team, score 4-1, in Group 3 of League B of the Nations League, but was relegated to the third echelon. With only two victories and a draw in six games, the Romanians are on last position in the group, being outrun by Bosnia, Montenegro and Finland. Selector Edward Iordănescu announced that he was going to discuss with the management of the specialized federation if he left or remained coach of the representative team. For Romania, which also missed qualification to this years World Cup in Qatar, the next competition will be the Euro 2024 preliminaries, hosted by Germany. (LS)

  • January 2, 2019

    January 2, 2019

    EU The President of the European Council, Donald Tusk, congratulated Romania on taking over the EU Council presidency on January 1, for the first time its accession, and wished it good luck. I am confident that you will deliver and I am looking forward to working with you, Donald Tusk posted on his official Twitter account. Between January 1 and June 30, Romania will have to handle a EU agenda filled with political developments and dossiers with a decisive impact on the future of the bloc, including Brexit, the negotiation of the forthcoming EU budget, the European parliament elections due in May. The European Commissioner for Regional Policy Corina Creţu says Romania must use all the opportunities entailed by the EU Council presidency, including in terms of the cohesion policy for 2021-2027. In a Facebook post, Creţu adds that both herself and the European Commission as a whole are ready to support the Romanian authorities for a successful presidency.




    EURO Twenty years since the introduction of the single currency, high-ranking EU officials, including the head of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker, emphasised the importance of the European currency. The Euro has become a symbol of unity, sovereignty and stability, said the European Commission chief, who is one of the signatories of the treaty that created the single currency. I know that was the most important signature I ever made, Juncker added in a news release. 20 years on, we have a generation that only knows the Euro as a national currency, the head of the European Central Bank Mario Draghi said in his turn. The Euro became the official currency of 11 EU member states on January 1, 1999, with notes and coins going into circulation in 2002. At present the Euro is used by some 340 million people in 19 of the 28 member countries, and is the second most important currency in the world after the US dollar.




    JAPAN Emperor Akihito, who is to step down in April, sent his hopes for peace for his nation and the entire world, in his last New Years address, delivered before a record number of people who came to see the event, according to Kyodo and dpa. On April 30, at the age of 85, Akihito will be the first Japanese sovereign to relinquish power in the last 200 years. In 2016 he announced his intention to withdraw from power, putting forth concerns that his old age would prevent him from accomplishing his duties. Akihito became the 125th Emperor of Japan on January 7, 1989, at 55 years of age, after the death of his father, Hirohito, in whose name Japan fought in World War 2. Akihitos oldest son, Prince Naruhito, will be crowned on May 1.




    JUSTICE The Romanian Justice Minister Tudorel Toader said in an interview aired by a private television channel on Tuesday that he would like to close the subject of a government decree regarding amnesty and pardons. He emphasised that the most his ministry can do is to approve a bill initiated in Parliament on this topic. Toader also said that he has never done and will never do something likely to create a situation similar to the one triggered by the 2017 government decree no. 13, which brought hundreds of thousands of Romanians into the streets and prompted criticism from the EU and the USA.




    ELECTIONS The elections for the European Parliament will be held between May 23rd and 26th this year. MEPs are elected every 5 years, and as of this year the Parliament will have 705 members, as compared to 751 at present. This is because of Britains withdrawal from the EU. Of the 73 seats currently held by UK, 46 will be eliminated and the other 27 will be distributed to EU member states that are under-represented in the Unions legislative body. Romania gets 33 seats, 1 more than at present.




    TENNIS The Romanian Monica Niculescu (99 WTA), is playing today against the Czech Kristyna Pliskova (94 WTA) in the 8th-finals of the WTA tournament in Shenzhen, China. Tomorrow, in the same tournament, another Romanian, Sorana Cîrstea (84 WTA) takes on the American Alison Riske (62 WTA) in the quarter-finals.



    (translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)