Radio România Internațional

Tag: bill

  • The Pardons Bill: Debates and Sanctions

    The Pardons Bill: Debates and Sanctions

    Ever since the start of the year, the pardons bill issue has dominated public debate in Bucharest more than Romanias favourite pastimes, namely football and the private life of public figures, ever did. Back in winter, the new power, made up of the Social Democratic Party and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats, said that they would solve the problem of prison overcrowding by granting collective pardons through an emergency decree. Ever since, this has seriously irritated civil society and has brought hundreds of thousands of people into the street. The large scale protests, accompanied by harsh criticism from the rightist opposition, the media and Romanias foreign partners, have forced the Government to scrap the decree and have prompted its initiator, the infamous Justice Minister Florin Iordache, to resign.



    Given that the issue of prison overcrowding remains unsolved, and the European Court of Human Rights has repeatedly fined Romania over the poor detention standards, the collective pardons idea was left for Parliament to deal with. Fiery but nevertheless unproductive, the debates on the law drafted by the Government have yielded no results yet.



    They did however make another victim, in the person of the Social Democrat Serban Nicolae, the head of the Senates legal committee. His determination to include corruption offences among the crimes covered by pardoning has affected the already damaged image of his party, and this has visibly irritated the Social Democrats leader Liviu Dragnea. Consequently, the latter ordered Nicolaes removal from the helm of the Senates legal committee and of the Social Democratic floor group.



    In turn, Serban Nicolae says that the bill, in the form adopted by the Senates legal committee, is completely ineffective, as it fails to solve the problem of overcrowded penitentiaries and does not meet any needs of society or any of the obligations that Romania has before the European Court of Human Rights. According to Nicolae, only 1,032 people will benefit the provisions in the bill.



    The former head of state Traian Basescu, currently a Peoples Movement Party MP, seems to have taken over Nicolaes rhetoric when he said on Wednesday that the Social Democratic Party (PSD) and its leader Liviu Dragnea no longer want to deal with the pardons bill issue, which allows him to further support it from an independent position. Romania, Basescu says, needs to grant extensive pardoning, and this bill will result in the release of only 433 people and in reduced sentences for another 589. Basescu promises to do everything he can to free physicians, professors, and other categories of employees with higher education, who ended up in prison for corruption deeds such as bribe taking.



    Thus, commentators say, after having claimed that the fight against corruption was the fundamental dimension of his presidency, Basescu ruins his political heritage, making his supporters regret that they have ever voted him.


    (translated by: Elena Enache)

  • May 3, 2017

    May 3, 2017

    ORGANISED CRIME – Police and prosecutors with the Directorate Investigating Organised Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) have today conducted home searches in Bucharest and several counties in Romania, targeting an organised crime group in a case involving the National Freight Railways Corporation. Forty people, including the current and the former managers of the corporation, are suspected of having set up an organised crime group, aggravated embezzlement, forgery and fraud. The group members allegedly under-appraised in 2016 assets belonging to the company, before selling nearly 2,500 freight cars intended for scrapping. The difference between the actual worth and the under-assessed worth of the goods went, according to the police, into the accounts of a company that collected ferrous scrap metal. As a result, the Corporation incurred losses of over 6.3 million euros.




    PRESS FREEDOM – “Journalists are intimidated not just in authoritarian regimes, but also in countries that are usually regarded as democratic, the president of the European Parliament Antonio Tajani said in a message on World Press Freedom Day, celebrated today. A former journalist himself, Tajani mentions as negative examples Turkey, Russia and China, and says the EU is the strongest defender of the freedom of expression all over the world. World Press Freedom Day is celebrated in Bucharest as well, with the launch of the FreeEx Report on press freedom in Romania in 2016-2017, which looks at the main events with an impact on the freedom of expression. Previously, a similar report drawn up by Reporters without Borders (RSF) and released last week ranked Romania 46th out of 180 countries in terms of press freedom. “The excessive politicising of the mass-media, corrupt financing mechanisms, editorial policies subordinated to owner interests and the intelligence agency infiltration of staff – such has been the impact of the medias transformation into political propaganda tools, which has been particularly visible in election years, reads the RSF report. Romania went up 3 places since last year, when it was 49th in this ranking.




    TOURISM – Check-ins in Romanian accommodation units in the first quarter of the year totalled more than 2 million people, up around 11% compared to the same period of 2016, according to data made public today by the National Statistics Institute. Most of the foreign tourists came from Europe (76.2% of the total), especially from Germany, Italy, and the UK. Last year the number of foreign tourists was nearly 11% larger than in 2015, namely 2.5 million, a record for the last few decades.




    BREXIT – Britain will not pay 100 billion euros to leave the EU, the Brexit Secretary David Davis said today, after British media reported that the EU negotiators have revised their original figures. The new bill, 40 billion euros higher than previous estimates, includes the payment of farming subsidies and administrative fees to the EU. Other elements taken into account are the budget of the UK and the EU investment expenditure. The revision of estimates indicates a tougher position taken by the 27 member states with respect to Britains demands. Today, the EU chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, will present detailed guidelines for the EU side. The date of the official divorce was set for March 29, 2019, unless an extension is agreed on by decision-makers.




    MOLDOVA – The presence of any troops or military bases headed and controlled by other countries, on the territory of the Republic of Moldova, is against the Constitution, Moldovas Constitutional Court ruled on Tuesday. The president of the Constitutional Court, Alexandru Tănase, explained that although the legislation makes it clear that the Republic of Moldova does not allow the deployment of foreign military on its territory, there are still Russian Federation troops in the pro-Russian breakaway region of Transdniester.




    WRESTLING – The Romanian athlete Andrei Dukov won the silver in the 57-kilo freestyle category, on Tuesday, at the European Wrestling Championships in Novi Sad, Serbia. Defeated in the final by the Georgian-born Azeri Giorgi Edisherashvili, Dukov improved his performance since last year, when he won bronze in the continental championship. Also on Tuesday, on the first day of the competition, the Romanian Alina Vuc won the bronze in the 48 kilo category, after defeating the Polish Anna Lukasiak. Romania, which has already reached its two medal target for this competition, is taking part in the European Championship in Novi Sad with 14 athletes.


    (translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)

  • Unified Pay Scale Law, in Parliament

    Unified Pay Scale Law, in Parliament

    Just weeks after the unions negotiated with the Labour Minister Lia Olguta Vasilescu, the bill on the unified pay scale in the public sector has reached the Parliament of Romania, for debates and endorsement. Eagerly awaited by many Romanians, the document stipulates an average increase of monthly incomes by over 50% in the next 5 years. Total pay rises will amount to 7 billion euros.



    PM Sorin Grindeanu announced that talks with trade unions and other stakeholders would continue in Parliament, in order to shorten the time needed for the bill to be endorsed: “The importance of this law and the deadline that we set for this in our governing programme, namely by the end of the second quarter, made us table this text in its current form in Parliament.”



    The draft law, which is scheduled to come into force on July 1, targets all public institutions, except for the National Bank of Romania and the Financial Supervision Authority. The Labour Minister Lia Olguta Vasilescu said the first pay rises would be operated in the police and military sector: “The basic pay of military personnel will be raised by 20%. The basic pay of police workers will go up by 5%. On January 1, 2018, full salary increases will be operated for physicians and nurses. The basic salaries for teaching staff will increase by 50% as against December 2017. Basic salaries for the civil service staff in public institutions and local administration will be increased as of January 1, 2018.”



    Some unions challenge the bill on the unified pay scale in the public sector. The National Federation of Police and Interior Ministry Trade Unions demanded the resignation of the Labour Minister, after the latter announced that police salaries would only be raised by 5%, whereas the rank benefits for military personnel would go up 20%. The unionists argue that the bill drafted by the Labour Minister generates discontent, confusion and tensions among police workers, who feel discriminated against and want their work to be appreciated in the same manner.



    The highest salary in the public sector will be paid to the president of the country and will account for 12 national minimum wages. The salaries of top civil servants will drop, but those of the MPs, judges and prosecutors will be raised.


    (Translated by Ana Maria Popescu)

  • December 17, 2016

    December 17, 2016

    COMMEMORATION – In the western Romanian city of Timişoara, ceremonies have been organised to commemorate 27 years since the start of the Revolution of December 1989, which brought down the communist regime. A day of mourning is observed on Saturday in the city, in memory of the heroes who died in Timisoara. Sparked by the locals opposition to an abusive measure of the city hall, the protests quickly spread across the country, culminating on December 22 with dictator Nicolae Ceausescus attempted escape. More than 1,000 people died and another 3,400 were wounded between December 16 and 25, 1989. Romania was the only Eastern Bloc country where the communist regime was overthrown in a violent manner and the communist leaders were executed.



    DISPUTE – The Russian Foreign Ministry said on Friday that the issue of the Romanian gold reserve had a significant historical component and that it was first and foremost something for a bilateral team of historians to deal with. According to the Russian diplomacy, historical issues, including the matter of the gold reserve, were not covered by the Russian-Romanian Treaty, and a joint team of historians was tasked with researching the issue. The Russian authorities say the interim findings of this committee are to be presented at a meeting held in Moscow next year. The Russian Foreign Ministry made these clarifications after Mugur Isarescu, Governor of the National Bank of Romania, said Russia was still to return to Romania the gold reserve sent for safekeeping in the Russian Empire 100 years ago. According to the archive of the central bank, in 1916 and 1917 Romania sent to Moscow 1,926 cases containing gold coins and bars, as well as cases of jewellery belonging to Queen Marie.



    DEFENCE – The Romanian authorities are making progress in identifying another 12 aicraft to be included in the equipment of the Romanian Air Forces, but talks with the representatives of the country that produces these devices must first be held, the Romanian Defence Minister Mihnea Motoc said on Friday at Air Base 86, Borcea. He answered a question regarding the acquisition of a new squadron of F-16 fighters. In 2013, Romania decided to purchase 12 used F-16 aircraft from Portugal, but according to experts the country needs 48 multirole planes, that is, another 4 squadrons.



    LEGISLATION – The bill drafted by the Social Democratic Party on the scrapping of 102 charges and fees, including the radio and television license fee, will be sent back to Parliament for review. President Klaus Iohannis made this decision on the same day that the Constitutional Court announced the bill did not come against the Constitution. The Presidents move triggered the discontent of the Social Democratic leader, Liviu Dragnea, the initiator of the bill. Dragnea vowed not to give up the elimination of the respective charges, and said the bill would once again be pushed through Parliament.



    US-RUSSIA – US President Barack Obama said his country would respond to the cyber-attacks launched by Russia during the presidential election campaign in November. The American authorities say they have evidence that hackers linked to Kremlin broke into the email accounts of members of the Democratic candidate Hillary Clintons team, to help the campaign of Republican candidate Donald Trump. Not much happens in Russia without Vladimir Putin, President Obama told a press conference, virtually confirming the view that Russian President Putin was personally involved in the attempts to hack into the computers of the National Democratic Committee. Russia denied the accusations.


    (translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)