Radio România Internațional

Tag: Brexit bill

  • February 21, 2017

    February 21, 2017

    MPs VOTE– The government emergency decree no. 13 amending the Criminal Codes and the one repealing it, namely decree no. 14, are being debated and voted on today in the Romanian Chamber of Deputies, a decision-making body in this case. On Monday, decree no. 13 was rejected with a majority of votes by the plenum of the Senate. The government’s move to change the criminal law by an emergency decree brought hundreds of thousands of Romanians into the streets. The anti-government protests started on January 31, when decree no. 13 was passed, and have continued daily ever since, even after it was repealed by means of decree no. 14. In parallel with the anti-governmental protests, protests were also staged against president Klaus Iohannis who has been blamed for failing to fulfill his role of mediator in the political crisis and for siding with the anti-government protesters.



    COMMUNE MAYORS — The mayors of Romania’s communes have a 30-day deadline to present infrastructure projects. The national local development program has this year been allotted funds worth 30 billion lei, that is around 6.5 billion euros. The mayors met Monday in Bucharest to review the problems facing the local communities. At present, 47% of Romania’s population lives in the rural areas.



    GREECE– The Greek government agreed Monday in Brussels, at the meeting of the finance ministers of the euro zone, to apply measures set by the EU and IMF in exchange for the disbursement of the next installment worth 86 billion euros of the loan granted by international creditors, which is needed for Greece to avoid bankruptcy. The head of the euro group, Jeroen Dijsselbloem, has said that Greece has now a new outlook: less austerity and more reforms. Brussels officials will soon travel to Greece to discuss the new structure of reforms. According to statistics, the debt of Greece at present stands at 177.4% of the GDP.



    LONDON — The House of Lords in the British Parliament is today debating the draft law allowing the government to start the process of Great Britain leaving the EU. The bill has already been passed by the House of Commons. PM Theresa May has called on the House of Lords to take the example of the House of Commons and rapidly pass the bill. After last year’s historic vote in favor of Brexit, Mrs. May promised to start the Brexit procedure by the end of March. The negotiations with Brussels, which are going to be very tough, will last two years. nt stands at 177.4% of the GDP.



    WASHINGTON — The American President, Donald Trump, has appointed general Herbert R. McMaster (54) as national security advisor. He replaces Michael Flynn who has recently stepped down for failing to tell the truth about a conversation he had with the Russian ambassador to Washington. Herbert R. McMaster is one of the most appreciated generals of the American army and a strategist with a tremendous talent. According to Radio Romania’s correspondent, general McMaster criticized the way in which the former president George W. Bush intervened in Iraq, drafting a different strategy against terrorism. This strategy was used by general David Petraeus, a former commander of the American forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, and it changed the fate of a war which the US was about to lose. (translation by L. Simion)

  • January 26, 2017 UPDATE

    January 26, 2017 UPDATE

    BUDGET BILL – The PM of Romania, Sorin Grindeanu, has announced that the 2017 budget bill will be finalised in Fridays Government meeting and sent to Parliament for debate on the same day. The head of government says all the measures included in the governing programme of the leftist ruling alliance have been taken into account in drafting the bill. The largest amounts will be channelled into transportation, agriculture, healthcare and SMEs. Less money than in 2016 will go to education, energy, regional development, home affairs, foreign affairs, the Presidential Administration, the two chambers of Parliament and the Foreign Intelligence Service. The draft public budgets rely on an estimated 5.2% economic growth rate and a budget deficit put at 2.96% of the GDP. President Klaus Iohannis criticised the cuts in the national security budget. The head of state Thursday sent a letter to the PM, describing the budget cuts as not only unjustified, but also completely ill-timed.




    JUSTICE – The Romanian Justice Ministry announced on Thursday that on January 30 it would organise a public debate on the governments pardons bill and on the bill to amend the Criminal Code and Code of Criminal Procedure. On Wednesday, the Higher Council of Magistrates opposed the two bills. The Councils approval is not required for the bills to be endorsed. The Government intends to grant full pardon for all sentences of up to 5 years in prison, and for all fines ordered by courts. Pardons would not apply to repeat offenders and individuals sentenced under special laws. As for the draft amendment to the Criminal Code, it makes abuse of office an offence only in case it has resulted in damages of around 44,000 euros, and lowers the maximum sentence from 7 to 3 years in prison. The two bills have been harshly criticised by the Opposition in Parliament and by tens of thousands of people who took to the streets last weekend. President Klaus Iohannis joined in the protests. The Justice Minister, Florin Iordache, says the amendments are needed to solve the penitentiary overcrowding problem and to bring legislation in line with Constitutional Court rulings.




    BREXIT – The British Government Thursday made public the draft law it would send to Parliament in order to trigger the Brexit process. The draft law will be presented and discussed in Commons on January 31 and February 1, and then subject to vote on February 8, the Government said. The bill will be sent to the Lords, the upper body of the legislative, before being sent to the Queen. PM Theresa May promised to trigger Art. 50 of the Lisbon Treaty and initiate the process of Britains leaving the EU by the end of March.




    BORDER WALL – The President of Mexico Enrique Pena Nieto announced on Thursday that he cancelled the following weeks planned visit to the USA, where he was scheduled to have a meeting with his US counterpart, Donald Trump. The decision was made after Trump signed an order on the building of a wall on the Mexican border, to counter illegal migration into the USA, with Mexico to pay for the works after it has been completed. After the Mexican President announced his country would not pay for the Trump wall, the US President wrote that Nieto should cancel his visit to the US.


    (translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)