Radio România Internațional

Tag: collective pardon

  • Justice, offenders and politicians

    Justice, offenders and politicians

    The government’s strongman, the president of the Social Democratic Party and of the Chamber of Deputies, Liviu Dragnea, has not hidden his disappointment at the way in which the Senate’s Juridical Committee has so far acted in the case of pardoning sentences for acts of corruption. He announced that the case of the committee’s president, Social Democrat Serban Nicolae, would be dealt with at party level. On Wednesday afternoon, the senators in the Juridical Committee adopted the amendments on pardoning the people who received a corruption sentence that were proposed by Serban Nicolae, by his colleague Liviu Brăiloiu and by the former president of Romania, currently senator of the People’s Movement Party, in opposition, Traian Băsescu.



    But on Wednesday evening, thousands of Romanians took to streets in Bucharest and other cities across Romania to protest against the corruption of the political class, be they in power or in opposition. Consequently, on Thursday, the same committee led by Serban Nicolae voted again, this time to reject the proposals for pardoning crimes such as giving and taking bribe or influence peddling.



    Voting to correct the previous vote were the senators of the Liberal Party, the Save Romania Union and the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania. Abstaining from the vote were of course the representatives of the governing coalition made up of the Social Democratic Party and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats.



    The fact that Senator Serban Nicolae has not yet submitted his resignation seriously mars the image of the Social Democrats, and undermines the respect he still enjoyed among his party colleagues, wrote on Facebook the former Social Democrat Prime Minister Victor Ponta, who is currently keeping a distance from the Social Democratic top leadership. Senator Serban Nicolae tried to explain:



    “Just as yesterday we made a decision, today we made another decision, through the same democratic means, which shows that there was no previous hidden agenda, no fierce contradiction. We have all abstained from voting today because we did not agree with the procedure. We respected the procedure. Yesterday we voted for those amendments, today we have abstained from voting because we did not want to be part of a vote for or against this procedure for submitting to the vote again several amendments that had already been adopted. That’s all!”



    Although his amendment was rejected, the former president Traian Băsescu, has remained consistent with his idea of pardoning people sentenced for abuse of office. Traian Băsescu:



    “In Romania the issue of abuse of office has been treated abusively. I was reading the latest report of the head of the National Anti-Corruption Directorate who said they were working on 2,150 cases of abuse of office. I have compared the situation in Romania with that in Europe. I don’t think we will find 50-100 cases in all EU member states. Obviously, we are applying the legislation in the field in a wrong way, and this has been also shown by the Constitutional Court.”



    Also on Thursday, the Constitutional Court rejected by a majority of votes, as inadmissible, the Ombudsman’s notification regarding an article in the law that forbids people with a criminal sentence to be members of the government. It is the very law that had prevented the Social Democrat leader Liviu Dragnea from becoming prime minister, despite his party’s outright victory in the December 2016 legislative elections. Last year, Liviu Dragnea received a 2-year suspended sentence for trying to rig the 2012 referendum on the impeachment of the then president Traian Băsescu. Liviu Dragnea commented on the Court’s decision:



    “Their decision does not change my attitude, my life, my political activity or my political actions. We have a prime minister whom I support and a government that has all my backing. The decision is not for me”.



    Promptly signaled in the international press, the latest developments in Bucharest show that the fight between the clean part of Romanian society and the politicians with low moral standards carries on. (Translated by L. Simion)

  • Green-light to the referendum on the fight against corruption

    Green-light to the referendum on the fight against corruption

    The start of the political new year in Romania was rough. A new Government took the reigns of power, made up predominantly of members of the leftist Social Democratic Party, the winner of December 2016’s parliamentary elections, and several members of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats in Romania. A government that rushed into adopting some of the social measures promised during the election campaign, and which actually secured its win, but which soon after surprised everybody with two emergency decrees that would grant collective pardon and would amend criminal law, favoring the corrupt.



    With the second decree, the Cabinet was keen on going all the way through, thus triggering severe criticism by judicial institutions, large-scale citizen protests and the right-wing opposition filing a motion of no-confidence. Eventually, the government abrogated the much denigrated ordinance that was meant to partially decriminalize abuse of office. Before this avalanche of events, Romania’s President Klaus Iohannis made a move and announced that he would call on the Romanian citizens to have their say on the fight against corruption by means of a referendum. On Monday, Romania’s Parliament, although not on very good terms with the President, endorsed the referendum, thus triggering comments from both supporters and opponents to the idea of a referendum on corruption. The interim president of the National Liberal Party Raluca Turcan has taken advantage of the situation in order to criticize once more the leaders of the governmental coalition and the Prime Minister. Raluca Turcan:



    “We can set things straight and show people that the political attitude displayed by Mr. Dragnea, Mr. Tariceanu and Mr. Grindeanu was just an accident and maybe in this way we will send the right political signal and take Romania out of this political conclave and put it on the right path towards the western European democracy.”



    Senator Varujan Vosganian, a member of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats in Romania, has drawn attention to the fact that this initiative, whose outcome is rather easy to envisage, as it’s impossible for corruption to have supporters, would cost some 30 million Euros. Varujan Vosganian:



    “What I am asking is, given that this is a referendum that we all agree with, and I’m convinced all parties have the same stand on this matter, and the electorate too, then why spend dozens of millions of Euros on something that we all know it’s going to happen?”



    Ruling coalition parties are suspecting president Iohannis of having a hidden medium and long-term agenda, in the run-up to the 2019 presidential elections. Even if this were true, the one providing ammunition for such an agenda was the very Government, through its arguable decisions regarding the very sensitive field of the judiciary. (Translated by M. Igantescu)

  • Criminal laws, under debate

    Criminal laws, under debate

    One day after nearly 100,000 people, including in the diaspora, protested the Governments plans to pass two controversial emergency orders, one granting collective pardons and another one amending the Criminal Code, the Justice Ministry organised on Monday a public debate on the topic. Chairing the debate, the Social Democrat Justice Minister Florin Iordache, the author of the desired changes, said he would table consistent documents related to the criminal legislation, in compliance with the opinions expressed in the public debate. The pardon is not targeted at specific individuals, but rather is meant to help improve detention conditions, said Minister Iordache, who is accused of pushing legislation that serves his own party, the Social Democratic Party, some high-profile members of which have been facing corruption sentences in recent years. Here is Florin Iordache, talking about the elimination of some provisions from the drafts:



    “We will take into account the comments made here today and those provisions which were unclear or conflicting will certainly be eliminated. I will not tell you what we will take out and what the final drafts will look like. I repeat, further to todays consultations, I have some comments that I would like to have included in the texts of the two bills.



    The amendments proposed by the Justice Ministry were criticised by some of the participants in the public debate. As one of them put it,



    “The manner in which the pardon and the criminal law amendments were designed essentially reconfigures Romanias criminal policy with respect to workplace-related offences, such as abuse of office, negligence, and so on. And it is unacceptable that this should be operated under a government order.



    Also on Monday, President Klaus Iohannis called on the Government to give up the bills on pardons and the amendments to the Criminal Code. The President said the Government cannot overlook the citizens will, and that a sound democracy is one where the majority does not abuse its position only because it is temporarily in power. Joining in the criticism against the proposed changes are civil society representatives, the countrys main judicial bodies, including the Prosecutor Generals Office, the Anti-Corruption Directorate and the Directorate Investigating Organised Crime and Terrorism, magistrate associations, opposition parties and the US Embassy in Bucharest. In turn, the Justice Ministry defends its bills, putting forth arguments related to the detention conditions and some Constitutional Court rulings. (Translated by A.M. Popescu)

  • Pros and Cons of Amending the Criminal Law

    Pros and Cons of Amending the Criminal Law

    Fifty thousand
    people took to the streets on Sunday night in Bucharest alone, and another
    40,000 in cities across the country as well as in Paris and Brussels,
    making this the largest-scale protests
    in Romania since the early 1990s, right after the anti-communist revolution.
    Once again, they demanded that the government appointed by the Social Democrats
    and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats in Romania give up the bills on
    collective pardons and decriminalising a number of offences. One of the bills
    grants full pardon for all prison sentences of up to 5 years, while the
    detention period might be reduced by half for prisoners over 60 years of age.
    Moreover, abuse of office may qualify as a criminal offence only if the damages
    exceed the equivalent of 55,000 euros.


    The Social
    Democrat Justice Minister Florin Iordache claims that the changes are needed in
    order to solve the issue of prison overcrowding and to bring the legislation in
    line with certain Constitutional Court rulings. He has mentioned that Romania
    has already been sentenced by the European Court for Human Rights for reported
    inhuman detention conditions. In a statement on Radio Romania, Iordache
    promised that the pardons would not cover sentences for corruption offences or
    for violent crimes.


    But the
    arguments of the Justice Minister and of Prime Minister Sorin Grindeanu could
    not convince the protesters. Firm and determined, although decent and peaceful,
    the participants in the rallies, mostly young people, resumed the protests they
    started a week ago, when some 30,000 people took to the streets of Bucharest.
    Together with the mass media, civil society, the right-wing Opposition and
    President Klaus Iohannis himself, people criticise what they see as an attempt
    to clean the criminal records of politicians in the ruling alliance who face
    corruption charges. Their outrage is fuelled by the fact that such amendments
    to the criminal law were not included in the governing programme that won the
    Social Democratic Party the parliamentary elections of December 11.


    The media
    supporting the Power in Bucharest first accused the protesters of attempting a
    coup, and then even ridiculed them, writing that Romanians took to the streets
    to celebrate the Swiss Roger Federer’s win in the Melbourne tennis tournament.
    Analysts however note that the Government’s initiative is opposed by the
    Superior Council of Magistracy, the Public Ministry, the National
    Anti-Corruption Directorate and the Directorate Investigating Organised Crime
    and Terrorism. As one observer put it, all of a sudden, the Social Democratic
    Party is deeply concerned with the fate of prison convicts, although it had
    stated that it wanted to rule in the name of people who are not prison
    convicts.

  • January 23, 2017 UPDATE

    January 23, 2017 UPDATE

    REFERENDUM — The Romanian President Klaus Iohannis announced on Monday that he would take the first steps for the organization of a referendum on amending the criminal codes and granting a collective pardon, an idea supported by the opposition parties, the Liberal Party and the Save Romania Union. President Iohannis expressed his outrage at what he called the attempt by the new government made up of the Social Democratic Party and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats to clear several criminal files. The Romanian President added that these changes in the justice field were not part of the governing program the Social Democrats presented before the December elections. These statements were made after, on Sunday, president Iohannis joined for several minutes the protest rally organized in Bucharest against the emergency government orders the government wants to promote. Tens of thousands of people participated in the rallies in several cities of Romania. In turn, the justice minister, Florin Iordache, claims the changes are necessary to solve the issue of prison overcrowding and to harmonize the legislation with decisions of the Constitutional Court.



    BUDGET for 2017 — The draft budget of Romania for 2017 is based on a 5.2% economic growth for this year and on more than 5% for the period 2018-2020, and the budget deficit is estimated at 2.96% of the GDP, shows the Report on the macroeconomic situation for 2017 and on the macroeconomic projections for the period 2018-2020 made public on Monday on the website of the Public Finance Ministry. When drafting the budget for 2017 the authorities took into consideration an average annual inflation rate of 1.4%, a net average wage of almost 505 euros and an average euro-lei exchange rate of 4.46 lei per one euro. At the end of 2017 a 4.3% increase in the number of employees is expected.



    UNION — In Bucharest and other cities of Romania continue the events devoted to the anniversary, on January 24, of 158 years since the union of the Romanian Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia. On January 24, 1859 Alexandru Ioan Cuza, who had been elected ruler of Moldavia one week before, was unanimously voted by the Electors’ Assembly in Bucharest as ruler of Wallachia and proclaimed ruler of the United Principalities. Thus, the union of the two principalities inhabited by Romanians was signed de facto. Three years later, on January 24, 1862, the union was recognized internationally and the state was given the name Romania. Cuza’s rule between 1859-1866 laid the institutional foundation of modern Romania through the radical reforms promoted. In 1918 the process of setting up the Romanian nation state ended with the union with the Kingdom of Romania of all historical provinces with a majority Romanian-speaking population, which, until then, had been under the administration of the neighboring multinational empires. However, following WWII Romania lost Bessarabia and Bukovina.



    AVIAN FLU — The World Health Organization (WHO) has called on all member states, Romania included, to carefully monitor avian flu epidemics and immediately report the cases of human contamination with the virus. As of November 2016 as many as 40 countries have reported new cases of infection with this virus, the WHO reported. In the past weeks the avian flu virus has been detected in 20 states from Europe. In Romania, the line authorities announced they were checking all poultry transport trucks from the countries where avian flu hotbeds were reported.



    COOPERATION — The Romanian Foreign Minister, Teodor Meleşcanu, on Monday met in Bucharest with his Moldovan counterpart, Andrei Galbur. According to the Romanian Foreign Ministry the two officials mainly tackled the development of the bilateral strategic partnership. Also the two have agreed, among others, to resume the meetings of the joint Romania-Moldova intergovernmental Commission for European integration. he neighboring multinational empires. However, following WWII Romania lost Bessarabia and Bukovina.



    FIRE — Three persons injured in the fire that occurred on Saturday night in a well-known Bucharest club are still in hospital. According to the Health Ministry a total number of 44 people received medical assistance for smoke inhalation, hypothermia and fractures, but none of the patients sustained burns. The investigation into the causes of the fire is in full swing. Hearings in the case continue as well as searches on the location of the fire. Following Saturday’s fire in Bucharest, the authorities started to make further controls, in the capital and across the country, of the buildings hosting activities with large attendance. Many irregularities have been identified and fines have been given. We recall that on October 2015 a fire broke out during a rock concert in the Bucharest-based Colectiv club, killing 64 young people and wounding 100. (translation by Lacramioara Simion)