Radio România Internațional

Tag: Alliance of Liberals and Democrats

  • August 26, 2019 UPDATE

    August 26, 2019 UPDATE

    POLITICS – The Alliance of Liberals and
    Democrats will withdraw from the governing coalition, its leader Calin
    Popescu-Tariceanu announced on Monday. The decision follows after the
    Social-Democratic Party, the Alliance’s ruling coalition partners, did not
    support their claim to reshuffle the government and present a new governing
    program, Tariceanu says. Tariceanu will also withdraw from the presidential
    race, while his party will support the candidacy of Mircea Diaconu, who has
    also rallied the support of the Pro Romania Party. Calin Popescu-Tariceanu will
    also resign from the position of Senate Speaker. In turn, Prime Minister and
    Social Democrat leader Viorica Dancila said her party will stay in power. The Prime Minister on Tuesday will make new nominations to replace the outgoing ministers from the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats.




    ELECTIONS – The
    Romanian Government’s decisions regarding the presidential election in November
    enter into force this week. The document includes information and regulations
    regarding the vote in Romania and abroad. The deadline for the submission of
    candidacies is September 22. The election campaign will start on October 12.
    The first round of elections will be held on November 10 and the second one on
    November 24.




    DIPLOMACY -
    Bucharest is hosting for four days the annual meeting of Romanian diplomacy,
    staged by the Romanian Foreign Ministry. Approached at the meeting will be the
    future of the EU and its global role, the trans-Atlantic ties, the ties with
    the eastern neighbors, European affairs, Romania’s political and economic ties
    with countries in the Asia-Pacific area, the Middle East, Africa and Latin
    America, humanitarian aid and the contribution to world peace and security.
    Attending the event are Foreign Minister Ramona Manescu, minister-delegate for
    European affairs George Ciamba and heads of Romania’s consular and diplomatic missions
    abroad. The special guests of this year’s meeting are the foreign ministers of
    Bulgaria and Moldova and the Croatian state secretary for European affairs. On
    Monday, the Foreign Ministry and the UN Development Program signed a
    cooperation memorandum.




    MILITARY – A new
    detachment of the Romanian Gendarmerie is leaving on Tuesday to Afghanistan for
    a six-month NATO mission. The 16 officers and agents will provide training,
    counseling and assistance to Afghan security forces and institutions. Attending
    the departure ceremony on Monday, Inspector General with the Romanian
    Gendarmerie Constantin Florea said the participation of Romanian gendarmes in
    missions in Afghanistan started in 2011, with notable results prompting
    international bodies to call on Romania to contribute special forces to
    training and counseling missions. So far Romanian gendarmes have helped train
    over 17,000 Afghan soldiers and police officers.




    MINISTERS – Prime
    Minister Viorica Dancila on Monday submitted the proposals for new ministers
    decided at Saturday’s National Executive Committee of the Social Democratic
    Party to President Klaus Iohannis. The party’s secretary general, Mihai Fifor
    will be heading the Interior Ministry, Ana Birchall will become Deputy Prime
    Minister for Strategic Partnerships while MP Iulian Iancu will be Deputy Prime
    Minister in charge of economic affairs. Dana Girbovan was nominated for the
    Justice Ministry, but the move has been harshly criticized by the opposition
    who emphasized the fact that Girbovan was a staunch supporter of the justice
    reforms that had been proposed by PSD and ALDE with the alleged intention to
    gain control over the magistrates and hinder the anti-graft fight.




    G7 – World
    leaders gathered in Biarritz for the last day of the G7 Summit on Monday. UN
    Secretary General Antonio Guterres called on the international community to
    take action to protect the Amazon region, swept by wildfire. French president Emmanuel
    Macron said the industrialized states of G7 have agreed on a 20-million-dollar
    fund which states in the Amazon can use to combat wildfire. President Macron also
    said an international initiative for the Amazon at UN level will be launched,
    looking into ways to reforest the affected areas.




    VOLEYBALL – The
    Romanian national women’s volleyball team defeated Estonia 3-1 on Sunday in
    Budapest, Hungary, in Group C of the European Championship. This is the second
    consecutive win of the Romanians, after defeating the host country’s team on
    Saturday, 3-1. The Netherlands is first in the group, with 6 points in 2
    matches, followed by Romania, with 6 points in 3 matches, Croatia, Hungary,
    Azerbaijan and Estonia. On Tuesday Romania will take on Croatia and on Thursday
    it will play Azerbaijan.


    (Translated by V.
    Palcu)

  • Talks on the new fiscal measures

    Talks on the new fiscal measures


    Two emergency decrees passed by the Government, modifying the justice laws and imposing additional taxes on key economic sectors such as banking, telecommunications and energy, have sparked heated public reactions and have deteriorated even more the already tense relationship between the leftist power and the rightist opposition. What the two decrees have in common is that they were passed by the government made up of the Social Democratic Party and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats without previous consultations with those affected by these changes and the fact that they have been harshly criticised not only at home, but also abroad, in particular by European partners. On Monday, PM Viorica Dancila had to face accusations coming from the opposition as regards the decree which the National Liberal Party and the Save Romania Union say should be abrogated because it affects the business environment and the banking and constructions sectors. The decrees enforcement resulted in higher gas and electricity bills and more expensive loans, leader of the Liberal MPs, Raluca Turcan, has said. It is the Prime Minister that holds legal responsibility for the decree, Turcan went on to say, even if its de facto initiators are the Social Democrat leader Liviu Dragnea and the PMs economic adviser, Darius Valcov. Raluca Turcan:



    “You have signed this awful decree that has turned Romanians lives into a nightmare – Emergency Decree 114, reflecting the greed of the group headed by Dragnea and Valcov, that imposes new taxes, hinders the young generations pension pillar and forces local administrations to increases taxes and duties.”



    On her part, PM Dancila has pointed out that the decree includes provisions that stimulate economic growth by increasing the level of investment and protecting household electricity consumers. Viorica Dancila:



    “Do you think its natural for the Romanians to pay interest rates that are twice as high as the ones other EU citizens pay? Does it bother anyone that we think the Romanian way? Emergency decree 114 is intended to bring these billions of euros to the state budget for the construction of schools, hospitals and motorways. In the energy sector household electricity consumers will be protected through a new mechanism, which is the universal service for household consumers.”



    Whereas the Save Romania Union accuses the power that the new fiscal measures have determined rating agencies to downgrade Romania and endanger the privately administered pensions, the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats, the Social Democrats governing partners, has accused the opposition that their statements create panic among the citizens. The Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania supports the ruling coalition in Parliament, but believes the decrees enforcement should have been postponed. According to the EU, the habit of passing emergency decrees at the end of a fiscal year and enforcing them almost immediately has to stop, because it creates uncertainty and ambiguities. Also, the Alliance of Romanian Employers Confederation has asked for the implementation of some provisions stipulated in the decree to be postponed, in order to find solutions in keeping with the Governments purpose, but without significantly affecting the social and economic sectors.




  • February 1, 2018 UPDATE

    February 1, 2018 UPDATE


    PARLIAMENT – A new parliamentary session started in Romania on Thursday. The Social Democratic Party, the main party in the ruling coalition, intends to adopt the law on the establishment of the Sovereign Fund for Development and Investment, the Administrative Code and the Pensions Law, while its partners, the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats, will focus on the countrys economic development. The rightwing opposition has announced that, in the current parliamentary session, they intend to block all the ruling powers initiatives to amend the justice laws.



    GOVERNMENT – One of the Governments priorities is the development and extension of the Strategic Partnership between Romania and the US in several fields, including the protection and promotion of human rights and the fight against human trafficking, said the Romanian PM Viorica Dancila in a message she conveyed at a debate on human trafficking organized by the US Embassy in Bucharest. Also, the Interior Minister Carmen Dan stated that Romania takes part in all the efforts made by EUROPOL, INTERPOL, EUROJUST, FRONTEX and SELEC to fight cross-border crime and curb the negative effects of human and children trafficking, the fight against human trafficking being one of the Interior Ministrys priorities. The event brought together magistrates and officials representing authorities specialized in fighting human trafficking from the US, Romania and the Republic of Moldova.



    POLAND – On Thursday, the Romanian Foreign Minister Tedor Melescanu had a meeting in Bucharest with his Polish counterpart Jacek Czaputowicz. The Romanian minister stated that a potential vote on suspending Polands EU voting rights would not benefit anybody. He stressed that Poland had not called on Romania to take a stand against suspension. In turn, Czaputowicz stated that his country had signals from other countries in the region that they would not favour the activation of article 7 of the EU Treaty. As a first in the EU history, the European Commission has decided to trigger article 7 of the Lisbon Treaty against Poland, saying there is a clear risk of a serious breach of the rule of law in that country, after the Polish Parliament adopted two laws under which the countrys judiciary is now under the political control of the ruling majority.



    MOLDOVA – The Romanian Prime Minister Viorica Dancila had a phone conversation on Thursday with her Moldovan counterpart Pavel Filip, focusing on the strategic partnership between Romania and the Republic of Moldova. The two officials agreed that joint projects must continue. Dancila reiterated Romanias firm commitment to supporting the Republic of Moldovas European path and its efforts to implement reforms for the benefit of its citizens. In turn, Filip said that the Chisinau Government would remain a reliable partner to the Bucharest authorities.



    EBRD – Romania must adopt a different economic model, if it wants to avoid a crisis triggered by the current boom, based on consumption, the Regional Director of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development Matteo Patrone has stated. After stimulating growth by reducing taxes and increasing salaries in the public sector, the Bucharest Government should take a more sustainable path, Patrone has also said. In his opinion, Bucharest officials can do that by increasing investment in infrastructure and improving the rate of absorption of European funds.



    EU COUNCIL PRESIDENCY – The Romanian Minister Delegate for European Affairs Victor Negrescu has officially launched the presentation site of the Romanian Presidency of the EU Council in the first half of 2019. The interactive portal can be accessed at www.romania2019.eu and includes information about the EU Council Presidency, preparations for the mandate, a forum of ideas and opportunities for volunteers. According to minister Negrescu, the Romanian Presidency of the EU Council is designed so as to ensure transparency and focus on the citizens.


    (translated by Mihaela Ignatescu)




  • Opinions on the justice laws

    Opinions on the justice laws

    Pundits forecast a hot autumn in Bucharest and are already deeming Sunday’s rally and march the triggers of the second large wave of anti-governmental protests, after the first one at the start of the year. Back then, the attempt of the PSD-ALDE government to amend the Criminal Codes, by an emergency decree, prompted hundreds of thousands of protesters to take to the streets in the largest rally of post-communist Romania. They were accusing the Power of trying to exonerate from criminal liability influential people in politics and administration, who were accused of corruption. Now, the protesters say they fear a new attempt is being made to politically subordinate justice in Romania, by transferring the Judicial Inspection Corps from under the umbrella of the Higher Council of the Magistracy into the subordination of the line ministry and by excluding President Klaus Iohannis from the procedures of appointing head prosecutors. The former Social Democratic justice minister Florin Iordache, who stepped down following last winter’s protests, in his new capacity as vice-president of the Chamber of Deputies, says the new protests and the protesters’ fears are groundless. Florin Iordache:



    “As far as I am concerned, I can say we have already transposed into law the requests made in the street. So, we are either speaking about disinformation or the protesters do not know the text of the laws, relative to the two problems they evoke, that of appointing and sacking prosecutors, as we have provided in the text that the president should be the last person to sign the document. Relative to the Judicial Inspection Corps, we have decided that it should be an independent institution. And I repeat, if we protest, let’s also first take a look at the laws”.



    The right-wing opposition has made public its support for the participation of its members and supporters in the protests organised by civil society. Although having a slightly marred image because of the corruption files of some of its prominent members, the National Liberal Party expresses its solidarity with the street protests for the independence of the judiciary and the continuation of the fight against corruption. Liberal leader Ludovic Orban:



    “Of course, we have urged the supporters and members of the party to take part in these forms of protest, because the stand taken by the National Liberal Party is similar to that taken by the Romanian citizens who took part in the rallies. We also believe that public manifestations, marches, rallies and protests are necessary, because it is very difficult to block the adoption of the toxic measures initiated by the ruling party, at parliamentary level alone, taking into account the structure of the legislature.”



    In another move, the President of the EU Court of Justice, Koen Lenaerts, said in Bucharest on Monday that the offence of “abuse of office” should not be related to the magnitude of the prejudice it has brought. Thus, he denied the statement by MP Iordache, who had earlier said that a moderate threshold of 19,000 lei, that is less than 5,000 Euros, would not affect anyone.(Translated by D. Vijeu)