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Tag: arrested

  • July 24, 2020 UPDATE

    July 24, 2020 UPDATE

    Coronavirus Romania. Hospital beds and staffing are the main focus of concern for the Romanian authorities, amid a sharp increase in the number of new coronavirus cases. Romania is approaching 42,400 cases, with a new daily record of 1,119 new infections. Almost 6,000 people are in hospital with coronavirus, of whom 301 in intensive care. 24 new deaths were also reported, taking the death toll to 2,150. People must understand that this is a difficult moment, the health minister Nelu Tataru warned once again. In another move, the government approved yesterday new social protection measures for the staff of companies hit by the coronavirus crisis. The healthy employees of the companies closed down by the public health authorities will be on furlough by the end of the year. An official statement says financial support is needed to prevent job loss, more social exclusion and wider social and economic gaps between the people whose jobs were directly affected by the epidemic and the rest of the population.



    Coronavirus world. Coronavirus cases are on the rise around the world. More and more governments are considering reintroducing restrictions. At least 15.6 million cases have been confirmed globally, while the death toll passed 630,000. The United States, who recorded the first coronavirus death at the beginning of February, has 4 million cases, most of them in California, Texas and Florida. Europe has also seen a rise in the number of new cases. Spain is making efforts to isolate the outbreaks that have appeared since lockdown was lifted a month ago. New outbreaks have also been reported in Italy, in Lombardy and the Lazio area where Rome is located. On Friday, Italy announced introducing 14-day quarantine requirements for people coming from Romania and Bulgaria. Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro and North Macedonia have also seen new cases. The state of emergency in the Republic of Moldova was also extended until the end of August. The UK, with 45,000 deaths, Italy, with 35,000, France with 30,000 and Spain with 28,000 are the worst hit countries in Europe.



    Corruption. The former anti-corruption prosecutor Mircea Negulescu was arrested for thirty days on Thursday following a ruling to this effect by the Supreme Court. He was working for the Ploiesti branch of the National Anticorruption Directorate. Last year, Negulescu was expelled from magistracy as a disciplinary measure following a number of scandals linked to controversial cases. He is now accused of abuse of office, unfair repression and forgery for making up evidence in two cases, including the so-called Tony Blair case, in which the former Social Democratic prime minister Victor Ponta was accused of organising a visit by the former British prime minister to Romania to score electoral points in the 2012 elections.



    I3M The Romanian Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu and the US Ambassador to Bucharest Adrian Zuckerman Friday discussed preparations for the summit of the Three Seas Initiative (I3M), due this autumn in Tallinn. They also attended a conference call with officials for the I3M Investment Fund, which Aurescu described as a fundamental instrument for funding regional inter-connection projects. He also discussed the role of I3M in consolidating the strategic partnership between the EU and the US. Bogdan Aurescu said the US plan to earmark up to 1 billion USD for I3M projects is a major contribution to the development of the region and of the trans-Atlantic partnership in general. I3M is a flexible and informal political platform bringing together the 12 EU member states located between the Adriatic, Baltic and Black Sea (Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia).



    Border police. The border police was on the front line of the authorities’ efforts to limit the spread of the novel coronavirus, said prime minister Ludovic Orban in a statement made on Friday on the anniversary of the Romanian Border Police Day. He added that the work of the border police, which he described as very complex and demanding, involves constant training, professionalism, courage, moral integrity and a huge sense of responsibility with respect to citizens and their country. Orban congratulated the border police for the exemplary way in which they mobilised to secure Romania’s land, sea, river and air borders in the context of the current health crisis, at the standards required of a EU member state and an aspiring Schengen area country.



    Helicopters. Ten Americal Black Hawk helicopters are arriving today in Romania at the military base in Mihail Kogălniceanu, in the south-east of the country, on a mission as part of the Atlantic Resolve operation. The aircraft are from the 101st Aviation Brigade, the US army’s most decorated unit of its kind. The Atlantic Resolve operation involves regular rotational deployment of US troops to Europe aimed at enhancing interoperability between NATO member states and improving links between allied and partner troops by means of cross-border training. (CM, AMP)

  • February 29, 2020 UPDATE

    February 29, 2020 UPDATE

    COVID19 Romania has 3 confirmed cases of COVID-19 infection, with the patients current state reported as good. Another 52 people are quarantined across the country, and 8,796 are under home monitoring. The healthcare authorities in the counties Timiş in the west and Maramureş in the north-west are running investigations to establish the people who were in contact with the 2 persons who tested positive for the coronavirus on Friday. Both of them had travelled to Italy recently. The first patient in Romania, a 25 year old man from Gorj County, in the south, is feeling well, and Fridays tests came out negative, doctors say. If the next test is also negative, the patient will be discharged. In Europe, Italy remains the most affected country. As the epidemic spread, stock exchanges across the world reported total losses of over 5 trillion US dollars. The BBC says the US financial markets have not been hit so hard since the 2008 financial crisis. Investors fear that the growing number of coronavirus cases outside China may turn the disease into a pandemic.



    AFGHANISTAN Romania welcomes Saturdays agreement signed by the USA and the Taliban for the normalisation of the situation in Afghanistan, as well as the joint declaration between Washington and Kabul for bringing peace to Afghanistan, the Romanian foreign ministry announced. Romania voices confidence that full implementation of these agreements will lead to stability in Afghanistan. According to the foreign ministry, Bucharest will continue to support the efforts to ensure peace and security in Afghanistan, coordinating with its NATO allies. The US and the Taliban Saturday signed in Doha, Qatar, a historic agreement that paves the way for the withdrawal of all American troops from Afghanistan in the next 14 months and for inter-Afghan peace negotiations after 18 years of war.



    EUROVISION Buzau, in the south-east of the country, is hosting on Sunday the national final for the Eurovision Song Contest. The public and a specialised jury will choose the song to be performed in the 2020 Rotterdam international competition by Romanias representative, Roxen. Several pieces have been written for her, and the best 5 of them are in the national final. Roxen gained popularity last summer with her song You Dont Love Me, aired in France, Mexico, the USA, Russia, Spain, Greece, Switzerland, Turkey, Kazakhstan and Estonia. Roxen will compete in the Eurovision first semi-final on May 12, with the final scheduled for May 16.



    MIGRANTS Greece prevented 4,000 migrants to enter its territory “illegally from Turkey, a spokesman for the Greek government announced on Saturday after an emergency meeting chaired by PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis, AFP and Reuters report. On Friday, the country faced a mass, organised and illegal border crossing attempt, but it managed to overcome it, the government spokesperson explained. He added that Greece protected its borders and the borders of the EU. Also on Saturday, in an address in Istanbul, Turkeys president Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his country will open its borders to enable migrants to leave, and criticised the EU for not helping Ankara enough. Turkey says it was forced to ease border controls for the refugees trying to reach the EU from Turkey, because of the pressure of the refugees coming from Syria amid clashes in the rebel stronghold of Idlib.



    RUSSIA Thousands of Russian opposition supporters gathered in Moscow on Saturday to protest the constitutional reforms initiated by president Vladimir Putin and to pay tribute to opposition leader Boris Nemtsov, murdered 5 years ago near Kremlin, AFP reports. In Sankt-Petersburg, nearly 2,000 people rallied in the centre of the city. The authorised march is the first important public gathering since Putin announced a Constitution review set to strengthen the role of the president and of the State Council. The killing of Boris Nemtsov in February 2015 had huge echoes in Russia and abroad. Nemtsov was in the middle of an investigation into the involvement of the Russian Army in the east Ukraine war.



    HANDBALL Romanias womens handball champions, CSM Ramnicu Valcea, Saturday defeated the Swedish side Savehof, 28-20 at home, in the Champions League Main Group 2. In Main Group 1 in the same competition, vice-champions CSM Bucharest play away from home on Sunday against the French team Metz. The Romanian teams are ranking 4th in their respective groups and CSM is the only one having secured a place in the quarter-finals. In mens handball, champions Dinamo Bucharest take on Sporting Lisbon, on Sunday night, after a 26-25 win away from home. If they go past the Portuguese team, Dinamo move into the Champions League round of 16.


    (translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)

  • April 18, 2016 UPDATE

    April 18, 2016 UPDATE

    GOVERNMENT – Dragoş Nicolae Pîslaru was sworn in as labour minister in the presence of the Romanian President, Klaus Iohannis. He was proposed by the PM Dacian Ciolos to replace the outgoing minister Ana Costea. A former advisor on economic issues in the PMs cabinet, Pîslaru, 40, is a graduate of the international economy department of the Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies and holds an MA degree in international relations obtained at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Ana Costea resigned last week following discontent expressed by the trade unions over the draft emergency ordinance on state employees salaries. The PM Cioloş announced the government would continue talks with the social partners about the salaries of state employees with a view to drafting a new law. This is the first resignation of a minister from the technocratic government invested in Romania last November.



    JUDICIARY – The Bucharest Court Monday upheld the prosecutors request to extend the temporary arrest warrants issued for two Israeli citizens, employed by a security company from Israel, who are accused of harassing the chief prosecutor of the Romanian Anti-Corruption Directorate, Laura Codruta Kovesi. Weiner Ron and Geclowicz David were arrested on April 3 for 30 days following a ruling of the Bucharest Court. The two are also accused, among others, of setting up an organized crime group and of illegally accessing an IT system. According to prosecutors, in March they made several threatening phone calls and conducted phishing attacks with a view to obtaining information from the e-mail accounts of the Romanian chief prosecutors relatives.




    DIPLOMACY – Spains Justice Minister, Rafael Catala, will be in Romania on Tuesday and Wednesday, Spains Embassy in Bucharest has announced. During the visit, the Spanish official will have talks with the Romanian Foreign Minister, Lazăr Comănescu, with his counterpart, Raluca Prună, and with the head prosecutor of the National Anti-Corruption Directorate, Laura Codruţa Kovesi. The meetings confirm and reinforce the close bilateral ties and the judicial cooperation between the two states. Around one million Romanians make up the largest foreign community in Spain.




    PARLIAMENT – The Parliament of Romania will propose that Romanias sustainable development strategy, dating back to 2008, should be reviewed and turned from a government resolution into a law. The announcement was made by the head of the Foreign Policy Committee in the Chamber of Deputies, László Borbély, who Monday chaired an international roundtable of Central and Eastern European parliaments focusing on sustainable development. The roundtable was organised by the Romanian Chamber of Deputies and the Inter-Parliamentary Union, an international body that brings together the parliaments of 162 countries. The Parliament of Romania celebrated on this occasion 125 years since it joined that body.




    POLL – Nearly 90% of the Romanians do not agree with immigrants being hosted in their town or village, according to a poll made public in Bucharest. This is a significant higher rate than in September 2015, when 67% of the interviewees gave that answer. More than 80% also disagree to refugees settling in Romania, with only 10% accepting this option. The poll was conducted by INSCOP between March 21 and 28, and commissioned by the daily “Adevărul. The maximum margin of error is 3%.




    STATISTICS – The number of employees in Romania last year exceeded 6 million, up over 200,000 as compared to 2014, according to data made public by the National Statistics Institute (INS). Last year the number of people employed in agriculture dropped by over a quarter of a million, according to the same source, while the number of employees in public administration went up by 50,000 and in education by over 40,000. The unemployment rate was 6.8%, INS also said.

  • The Week in Review September 14 – 20

    The Week in Review September 14 – 20

    The Romanian Prime Minister is Under Prosecution


    Social Democrat PM Victor Ponta is under prosecution, the first head of government to get indicted for irregularities in the 25 years since the fall of communism. A party colleague, Dan Sova, is also being prosecuted with 17 accusations of forgery, conspiracy to commit aggravated tax evasion and money laundering. The cases revolve around the energy complexes of Turceni and Rovinari. The alleged violations were committed while Ponta was a lawyer in the private sector. In parallel, prosecutors have concluded that Victor Ponta has to be investigated for conflicts of interest as prime minister as well. His co-defendant, Dan Sova, a former minister for transportation, is being prosecuted for conspiracy to commit abuse of office. He is suspected of having pocketed hundreds of thousands of Euros for contracts that deprived the state of around 16 million Euros. The situation is getting thorny for the standing government and the Social Democratic Party, insofar as President Iohannis called once again on Ponta to step down. The Social Democrats, however, refuse, as illustrated by interim party chair Liviu Dragnea:


    Liviu Dragnea: “We have no guarantee that Pesident Iohannis would appoint as prime minister another Social Democrat. Victor Ponta is a prime minister who has led several governments which have generated in Romania good economic results, and not only economic. Romania is not about to burn down. Romania isnt about to burn down even tomorrow. Nothing terrible is going to occur over the next few days. It is important for him to put some order in his thoughts, and, depending on his decision, we will talk, the two of us and as a political party, as a coalition.


    Ponta continues to deny all charges.



    Romania and the Refugee Crisis


    Romania continues to oppose mandatory refugee quotas faced with the wave of migration of late, and next week the country will plead once again with the EU against such measure. The announcement was made by President Klaus Iohannis, after he consulted the Higher Defense Council of the country. The head of state has reiterated Bucharests commitment to take in 1,785 refugees, even though the European Commission would like Romania to take in three times as many. However, if the EU forces Bucharest to take in more than the number they volunteered to, the Defense Council took into account asking the EU for money to cover the extra expenses. Here is what President Iohannis said:



    Klaus Iohannis: “If anything like this should happen, it is clear that we have to do something. A decision has not been made, but the idea has been circulated, which probably may lead to a solution, of using European funds for expanding facilities for taking in refugees, or, at the extreme, of course, of using European funds for building more centers to house refugees.



    Also this week, a verbal war ensued between Romania and Hungary after Budapest announced it planned to erect a razor wire fence to fend off refugees on the Romanian-Hungarian border, similar to the one built on the border with Serbia. The position of the Bucharest government in relation to the way Hungary treats migrants is in line with the positions expressed in the EU, as well as in other international organizations. The Romanian government reiterated that a fence on its border with Hungary was not in conformity with European norms. The Romanian government believes it is fundamental to observe these norms, as well as human rights.



    The Mayor of Bucharest is Under Detention


    Dan Marin, representing the small National Union for the Progress of Romania Party, in the ruling coalition, is acting as of Tuesday as mayor of Bucharest. As such, he said:



    Dan Marin: “Right now there is a void of information as regards the financial situation at City Hall, which is why one of the first measures I will take is to run an external audit.



    Dan Marin takes over from Sorin Oprescu, suspended as mayor by the prefect of the capital city due to prosecution. Anti-corruption prosecutors accuse Oprescu, who is under temporary arrest, of having taken 25,000 Euros in bribes, alleging that he ran a kickback ring in his administration.



    The Romanian Economy Shows Signs of Recovery


    The IMF representative in Romania and Bulgaria, Guillermo Tolosa, said this week that Romania may overtake economically in the next three years European countries such as Greece, the Czech Republic and Portugal, if it maintains fiscal stability and manages to draw in investments, especially in infrastructure. Also this week, annual inflation reached a historic low in a quarter century, minus 1.9%, without the risk of deflation. The National Forecast Commission has upped its figures for 2015 on economic growth from 2.8% to 3.3%, allowing for the possibility of 4% in 2018.

  • Mircea Basescu, Romanian President’s brother, arrested for 30 days

    Mircea Basescu, Romanian President’s brother, arrested for 30 days

    Mircea Basescu, Romanian President’s brother, was arrested for 30 days in a EUR 0.25 mln alleged influence trading case.



    Mircea Basescu was arrested on Thursday under charges of influence peddling. According to prosecutors, Mircea Basescu has reportedly received 250,000 euros in exchange for his promise to have a favourable sentence passed in a trial in which a crime group ringleader was charged with attempted manslaughter.