Radio România Internațional

Tag: Constitutional Court

  • October 25, 2016 UPDATE

    October 25, 2016 UPDATE

    CELEBRATION – On October 25, King Mihai I turned 95 and the Royal House of Romania is organizing a series of events, until October 28, to mark his anniversary. Medals and distinctions are being offered, concerts and book launches are held and Radio Romania broadcasts a radio drama written by King Mihai and Queen Ana. Mihai I is Romanias last king and the only surviving head of state from WWII. He ruled the country two times, between 1927 and 1930, and between 1940 and 1947, respectively. Forced by the communists to abdicate, on December 30, 1947, the former monarch lived in exile. After the Anti-communist Revolution of 1989, he returned to his native Romania. Also on Tuesday the Romanian Army Day was observed at home and abroad. Military and religious ceremonies were organized in all garrisons and theatres of operation across the country. Floral tributes were also paid at the cemeteries and memorials, in honour of the Romanian heroes in Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Russia, the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine. A reburial ceremony was held at Rossoshka, in the Russian Federation, for 594 Romanian military who died in the line of duty in the battle of Stalingrad (todays Volgograd) during WW II. At present, 780 Romanian military are taking part in international missions around the world, 629 of them in Afghanistan.



    NON FISCAL FEES– The Romanian Chamber of Deputies on Tuesday approved the draft law initiated by the Social Democratic Party to abolish over 100 non-fiscal taxes, including the radio and TV license fee, which covers most of the public broadcasters financing. On Monday, the Social-Democrats announced they gave up the idea of cancelling the radio and TV license fee, against the backdrop of harsh criticism voiced by the political class, civil society, representatives of public media institutions, who said the absence of such a fee would significantly impact the autonomy of the public radio and TV broadcasters. On Tuesday, however, Social-Democrat Liviu Dragnea made a comeback and called again, in the plenary session of the Chamber of Deputies, for the elimination of the public radio and TV license fee. The draft law has been endorsed by the Senate, and the Chamber of Deputies is the decision making body on the issue.



    CONSTITUTIONAL COURT – Romanias Constitutional Court on Tuesday ruled that the law on giving in payment, challenged by banking institutions, is partially against the Constitution. The law was enforced on May 13th. Also, the bill allowing the conversion of Swiss-franc loans into the local currency at below-market rates has also reached the Constitutional Court. The Government contested the law because, in their opinion, the form under which it was endorsed by the Chamber of Deputies has come to be more than a form of social protection. Under this bill debtors can ask banks to convert their outstanding debt to local currency loans at the exchange rate prevailing when the loan was extended.



    SMEs– Private small and medium sized enterprises in Romania, which got prizes in the 24th edition of the National Top of the Private Companies in Romania, reported a turnover of 2.2 billion Euro and employed over 26,000 people, Florin Jianu, the President of the National Council of SMEs has today said. According to him, the business environment in Romania should be supported by the state, by measures aimed to cut red tape, encourage the work force and grant funds to SMEs. Jianu has also said it is very important to attract investment, be it local or foreign.



    CETA – The European leaders say the summit scheduled for Thursday and devoted to the signing of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement between the EU and Canada (CETA) is “still possible, in spite of Belgiums finding it impossible to approve it at the moment, as it announced. Attending the meeting will also be Canadian PM Justin Trudeau, government officials from Ottawa have announced. On Tuesday, the President of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, the Canadian trade minister, Chrystia Freeland, and the head of the Belgian region of Wallonia, Paul Magnette, held talks in an effort to breathe new life into the negotiations on this agreement. All EU member states have expressed their agreement on the conclusion of a treaty, with the exception of Belgium, which needs the agreement of all its five federal entities. The region of Wallonia, displeased with several provisions of the treaty, particularly those referring to the arbitration of trade disputes between companies and governments, has rejected the agreement.



    NATO – US Ambassador to NATO, Douglas Lute, said in Brussels that NATO would consolidate its presence in Romania and neighboring Bulgaria. The US official said that Romania would host a multinational brigade, with the participation of Bulgaria. The brigade will coordinate the efforts of allied partners, including the United States, who will be deploying military for organizing military exercises in the two countries. Ambassador Lute said that, for the time being, plans on consolidating the presence of NATOs air and naval forces in the Black Sea region are still being discussed. In another development, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that NATO Defense Ministers will discuss NATOs presence in the Black Sea region as part of their meeting scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday in Brussels.



    TENNIS – Romanian tennis player Simona Halep (WTA no. 4) lost on Tuesday to the worlds number one player Angelique Kerber of Germany, 4-6, 2-6 in the Red Group at the WTA finals in Singapore. Simona won the first match against Madison Keys of the United States, and will take on Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia (WTA no. 8) in the last match. In the White Group, the Czech player Karolina Pliskova (WTA no.5) defeated the Roland Garros defending champion, Spanish Garbine Muguruza (WTA no.6), and Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova (WTA no.9) defeated last years winner of the title, Polish Agnieszka Radwanska (WTA no.3). Simona Halep is participating for the third time in the WTA Finals, after in 2014 she met Serena Williams in the finals, and last year failed to go past the group stage.


    (Translated by D. Vijeu and V. Palcu)

  • October 25, 2016

    October 25, 2016

    CELEBRATION – On October 25, King Mihai I turns 95 and the Royal House of Romania organises a series of events, until October 28, to mark his anniversary. Medals and distinctions are being offered, concerts and book launches are held and Radio Romania broadcasts a radio drama written by King Mihai and Queen Ana. Mihai I is Romanias last king and the only surviving head of state from WWII. He ruled the country two times, between 1927 and 1930, and between 1940 and 1947, respectively. Forced by the communists to abdicate, on December 30, 1947, the former sovereign lived in exile. After the Anti-communist Revolution of 1989, he returned to his native Romania. Military and religious ceremonies are being organised in all garrisons and theatres of operation across the country. Floral tributes are also paid at the cemeteries and memorials, in honour of the Romanian heroes in Austria, Bosnia and Hertzegovina, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Russia, the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine. A reburial ceremony is held at Rossoshka, in the Russian Federation, for 594 Romanian military who died in the line of duty in the battle of Stalingrad (todays Volgograd) during WW II. At present, 780 Romanian military are taking part in international missions around the world, 629 of them in Afghanistan.



    NON FISCAL FEES– The Romanian Chamber of Deputies has today approved the draft law initiated by the Social Democratic Party to abolish over 100 non-fiscal taxes, including the radio and TV license fee, which covers most of the public broadcasters financing. On Monday, the Social-Democrats announced they gave up the idea of cancelling the radio and TV licence fee, against the backdrop of harsh criticism voiced by the political class, civil society, representatives of public media institutions, who said the absence of such a fee would significantly impact the autonomy of the public radio and TV broadcasters. Today, however, Social-Democrat Liviu Dragnea made a come back and called again, in the plenary session of the Chamber of Deputies, for the elimination of the public radio and TV license fee. The draft law has been endorsed by the Senate, and the Chamber of Deputies is the decision making body on the issue.



    CONSTITUTIONAL COURT – Romanias Constitutional Court is today delivering its ruling on 33 notifications regarding the unconstitutionality of the new law on giving in payments, which allows mortgage debtors who cant repay their loans to give the mortgaged assets to the bank and stop paying back the loans. The law was enforced on May 13th. Also, the bill allowing the conversion of Swiss-franc loans into the local currency at below-market rates has also reached the Constitutional Court. The Government contested the law because, in their opinion, the form under which it was endorsed by the Chamber of Deputies has come to be more than a form of social protection. Under this bill debtors can ask banks to convert their outstanding debt to local currency loans at the exchange rate prevailing when the loan was extended.



    SMEs– Private small and medium sized enterprises in Romania, which got prizes in the 24th edition of the National Top of the Private Companies in Romania, reported a turnover of 2.2 billion Euro and employed over 26,000 people, Florin Jianu, the President of the National Council of SMEs has today said. According to him, the business environment in Romania should be supported by the state, by measures aimed to cut red tape, encourage the work force and grant funds to SMEs. Jianu has also said it is very important to attract investment, be it local or foreign.



    CETA – The European leaders say the summit scheduled for Thursday and devoted to the signing of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement between the EU and Canada (CETA) is “still possible, in spite of Belgiums finding it impossible to approve it at the moment, as it announced. Attending the meeting will also be Canadian PM Justin Trudeau, government officials from Ottawa have announced. Today, the President of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, the Canadian trade minister, Chrystia Freeland, and the head of the Belgian region of Wallonia, Paul Magnette, have held talks in an effort to breathe new life into the negotiations on this agreement. All EU member states have expressed their agreement on the conclusion of a treaty, with the exception of Belgium, which needs the agreement of all its five federal entities. The region of Wallonia, discontent about several provisions of the treaty, particularly those referring to the arbitration of trade disputes between companies and governments, has rejected the agreement.



    TENNIS– Romanian tennis player Simona Halep (WTA no.4) is today facing Angelique Kerber of Germany (WTA no.1), in the Red Group of the Champions Tournament in Singapore. Simona is first seeded in the group, after having defeated in the first round, American Madison Keys, whereas Kerber is second seeded, the German player defeating Slovak Dominika Cibulkova (WTA no.8). In the White Group, the Czech player Karolina Pliskova (WTA no.5) defeated the Roland Garros defending champion, Spanish Garbine Muguruza (WTA no.6), and Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova (WTA no.9) defeated last years winner of the title, Polish Agnieszka Radwanska (WTA no.3). Simona Halep is participating for the third time in the Champions Tournament, after in 2014 she met Serena Williams in the finals, and last year failed to go past the group stage.(Translated by D. Vijeu)


  • Changes at the Constitutional Court of Romania

    Changes at the Constitutional Court of Romania

    As of Wednesday the Constitutional Court of Romania has a new president and three new judges. On the occasion of the inauguration ceremony held at the Cotroceni Palace, President Klaus Iohannis urged the new judges to promote the highest standards of professionalism and independence.



    He asked them to contribute to strengthening the Constitutional Court of Romania as a pole of stability in the state’s constitutional architecture, by promoting a clear, coherent and predictable jurisprudence. The three judges of the Constitutional Court replaced the previous judges whose terms in office expired.



    They will hold their offices for 9 years. Judge Valer Dorneanu was elected with a majority of votes as president of the Constitutional Court of Romania for a 3-year term in office. Valer Dorneanu said he intended to work with his colleagues as a team and preserve the reputation of the Constitutional Court.



    Valer Dorneanu: “We expect to have a good cooperation with the state institutions. We expect state institutions to no longer consider the Constitutional Court as the place to which they can refer all the misunderstandings and conflicts created at political level. We cannot deny our role of arbiter, but we would like to remain a constitutional arbiter not an arena referee”.



    Valer Dorneanu, 72, has been a judge of the Constitutional Court since June 2013, being appointed by the Chamber of Deputies. In June 2016 he was elected interim president of the Constitutional Court of Romania following the end of his predecessor’s mandate.



    Before going to the Constitutional Court, Valer Dorneanu has been a deputy Ombudsman in charge of such institutions as the army, the judiciary, the police and the penitentiaries. Between 2000-2008 he was a Social Democratic MP and during his first MP mandate he held the position of president of the Chamber of Deputies.



    He also held the position of minister for the relation with Parliament between 1992- 1995. The former president of the Constitutional Court of Romania, Augustin Zegrean, says his term in office was a period of intense activity, when they had to solve even 10 thousand cases in one year. According to Augustin Zegrean Romania has too many regulations in the legal field.



    Augustin Zegrean: “We have more than 1,000 crimes mentioned in Romania’s criminal code, which I believe is too much. It is very difficult to be a judge in a country where laws are changing so frequently and are so numerous. It is also difficult for the population because, at least in criminal justice, ignorance of the law affords no excuse. And I don’t think that people in this country know all the 1,000 crimes in the criminal code.”



    We remind you that the judges of the Constitutional Court of Romania are appointed by the Chamber of Deputies, the Senate and the Presidency.


  • Constitutional Court Rules on Local Officials

    Constitutional Court Rules on Local Officials

    Until last summer, an ambiguous paragraph in the Law regulating the status of local elected officials enabled the mayors that had received suspended prison sentences to keep their seats. In June 2015, Romania’s Supreme Court ruled however that all officials having received final sentences, whether or not suspended, should be dismissed. But while many officials in this situation have been discharged, others would not step down and challenged the orders in court. Meanwhile, a number of MPs tabled a bill that cancelled the ruling of the Supreme Court.



    The Law on local elected officials was eventually amended, to the effect that those officials having been given suspended sentences were allowed to stay in office. The Head of State found this to be unacceptable, and therefore notified the Constitutional Court in this respect. The law comes against core principles of the rule of law and hinders the fight against corruption, President Klaus Iohannis argued. On Wednesday, the Constitutional Court judges endorsed the President’s view.



    The interim president of the Constitutional Court, Valer Dorneanu, explained, “The Court had in mind the fact that a discriminatory situation had been generated and that the solution given by Parliament would have disregarded the lawmakers’ goal, namely to protect the integrity and responsibility of the local elected official position.”



    Consequently, the local elected officials subject to final prison sentences will lose their seats. The executive director of the Public Innovation Institute, political science expert Ovidiu Voicu, said in his turn, in an interview to a private radio station, “It is a decision triggered by common sense, and of course anyone can see that, except for the politicians in this situation. I believe it is clear for everybody that an elected official can no longer represent the citizens after having committed offences that are incompatible with that position.”



    According to the media, last year, when the Supreme Court passed its ruling, there were 61 mayors who had received suspended prison sentences, in three-quarters of Romania’s counties. Equally relevant, four of Bucharest’s six district mayors and the mayor general were arrested under corruption-related charges. And most recently, the western town of Deva will have to organise local elections again, because Mircia Muntean, the mayor elected on June 5, was sentenced to six years in prison, after a recent two-year sentence for driving under the influence was merged into a four-year suspended sentence of abuse of office.



    (Translated by Ana Maria Popescu)

  • July 6, 2016

    July 6, 2016

    OSCE Victor Paul Dobre, a member of the Romanian Parliament’s delegation with the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) has been elected vice-president of this organisation, at its 25th annual meeting held in Tbilisi, Georgia, between July 1st and 5th. The OSCE addresses a wide range of security-related issues, including arms control, security-building measures, human rights, national minorities, democratisation, counter-terrorism and economic and environmental matters. It is made up of 57 participating states that span the globe, encompassing three continents – North America, Europe and Asia – and more than a billion people. Romania’s Parliament has been part of the OSCE’s Parliamentary Assembly since its establishment, in 1991, with a permanent delegation made up of seven MPs.




    VISAS Bucharest and Sofia have announced they will not ratify the EU-Canada trade agreement until Canadian authorities decide to regulate the visa policy for Romanian and Bulgarian citizens. Officials with the two European states say that Canada treats Romanian and Bulgarian citizens in a discriminatory manner in terms of visa policy. The European Commission assured Romania and Bulgaria, the only EU countries whose citizens still need entry visas for Canada, of its constant efforts to solve the problem, but pointed out that the two countries should not link the visa issue to the trade agreement.




    GOVERNMENT RESHUFFLE The Romanian Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos has announced the replacement of four of the 22 members of his cabinet, namely the Minister of Education, Adrian Curaj, of Communications, Marius Bostan, of Transportation, Dan Costescu and of the Minister-Delegate for Relations with Romanians Abroad, Dan Stoenescu. The Prime Minister has stated that the four have done their job, generally speaking, but the government team needs some fresh impetus. This is the most extensive government reshuffle made by PM Ciolos since he took over his mandate in November 2015. The new ministers will be sworn in on Thursday. Find out more about it after the news. e its establishment, in 1991, with a standing delegation made up of seven MPs.





    RULING Romania’s Constitutional Court has unanimously ruled today that the law challenged by President Klaus Iohannis is unconstitutional. According to this law, mayors and local county councillors indicted for corruption deeds, and who received suspended prison sentences, can further be maintained in their public position. Iohannis challenged this law at the Constitutional Court, on grounds of hindering the fight against corruption. Also today, the Court has decided to postpone until September 13th a decision on the bill challenged by almost 100 parliament members. The bill, passed two weeks ago, stipulates that MPs who had hired their relatives at their parliamentary cabinets before August 21, 2013, can no longer be accused of conflict of interests. The MPs who are now challenging this bill say it could create a legal conflict of constitutional nature between Parliament and the High Court of Cassation and Justice, as it introduces a new interpretation of the conflict of interests. Moreover, the signatories also say that the law applies retroactively, which is against a principle established by the Constitution.




    SUMMIT Poland’s capital, Warsaw, is preparing to receive over 2,200 participants at the NATO summit that starts on Friday. Alongside NATO members, European Union leaders and leaders of Georgia, Ukraine and Afghanistan are also expected. NATO’s Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has said that the Alliance’s leaders will be taking crucial decisions for the consolidation of NATO’s defense and discouragement capabilities. Also, a Romanian brigade will be turned into a multinational force. Moreover, multinational battalions will be dispatched in the three Baltic countries and Poland.




    NATO Divers from Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Romania, the US, Turkey and Ukraine are taking part, until Saturday in a multinational exercise in Romania’s territorial waters. This joint exercise, currently at its 6th edition consists in finding, neutralising and destroying improvised explosives underwater and in fighting against marine mines. We remind you that also these days the town of Targu-Mures, in central Romania, is playing host to a NATO exercise, enjoying the participation of 17 teams from countries such as Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Switzerland, Germany, Norway, Serbia, Sweden, the US, Switzerland and Turkey. The exercise was organized by the Euro-Atlantic Disaster Response Coordination Centre and Romania, and is a computer simulation of an large-scale disaster situation, resulting in multiple victims and the evacuation of thousands of people.




    EURO 2016 The French city of Lyon is hosting this evening the first semi-final of EURO 2016, with Wales up against Portugal. On Thursday, in Marseilles, the host-country France will be up against Germany. We remind you that Romania left the competition in the group stage.



    (Translated by Elena Enache)

  • Constitutional Court Ruling on Local Elections

    Constitutional Court Ruling on Local Elections

    Two days before the start of the election campaign, the Constitutional Court debated on Wednesday the challenge of constitutionality in the case of two articles of the local election law. The first article refers to the use of the one-round system, while the second one concerns the minimum number of signatures required for independent runners to have their candidacy validated.



    The two articles were challenged by journalist Liviu Avram, but the Constitutional Court dismissed them as ungrounded. The president of the Court Augustin Zegrean said that from the point of the view of the Court, there will only be one round of voting for the local elections, and that practice would not change from one day to the next, despite other similar cases being brought before the Court.



    The Courts ruling has sparked a diverse response among the political class. The co-president of the National Liberal Party Alina Gorghiu believes two rounds are necessary to elect local officials, as has been the case in Romania from 1992 to 2012. She hopes that next week, when the Court will issue its judgment on the merits regarding the use of the one-round or the two-round voting system, which she says is necessary in order to respect the principles of democracy, it will rule that it is the majority who will decide the winner of the local elections.



    The Social-Democrat vice-president of the Chamber of Deputies legal committee, Ciprian Nica, says that both the Social Democratic Party and the National Liberal Party stand to gain from the decision of the Constitutional Court with respect to maintaining the one-round system. In his opinion, rules should not change in the middle of a game. He said, however, that the Courts arguments could be taken into account in the future, if the law is to be amended at some point during the next Parliament term.



    The co-president of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe, Calin Popescu Tariceanu, shares the opinion that the voting system should not change one month before the elections, and that the next Parliament elected in autumn must re-discuss the way in which mayors are elected, given that the current law works to the disadvantage of smaller parties.



    The decision of the Constitutional Court is welcome because election rules should not change during the election campaign, agrees Martin Arpad, an MP for the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania.

  • March 10, 2016

    March 10, 2016

    MEETING – Romanias president Klaus Iohannis is today meeting the president of the Palestinian Authority Mahmud Abbas. Iohannis on Sunday started a tour of Israel and the Palestinian territories. In Jerusalem, the president had talks with his counterpart, Reuven Rivlin, with Prime Minister Bejamin Netanyahu and with Knesset Speaker Yuli-Yoel Edelstein. Additionally, Klaus Iohannis visited the Wailing Wall and met with representatives of the Romanian-born Israeli community.



    DEFENCE – The Romanian Intelligence Service has said that the Constitutional Court ruling will have a certain impact on national security, given the connection between preventing threats to national security and combating organized crime. Recently the Constitutional Court has ruled against the constitutional character of an article in the Criminal Procedure Code allowing the Romanian Intelligence Service and other secret service agencies to phone-tap people investigated by anti-corruption prosecutors. The Court claims that the Romanian Intelligence Service has no remit in criminal investigations. Romanian Intelligence chief Eduard Hellvig said that crimes such as acts of espionage and treason, terrorism, cross-border organized crime, counterproliferation, cyber crime, and, last but not least, acts of corruption, which are all serious threats to national security, will no longer be handled using technical equipment used by the Romanian Intelligence Service. Eduard Hellvig believes that the ruling will also affect a series of court cases, particularly those dealing with threats to national security. The countrys Superior Defence Council is to convene in an emergency meeting on Friday to address the effects of the Constitutional Court ruling on wiretapping.



    MILITARY – Some 130 military from the Republic of Moldova and the United States are these days taking part in the 2016 Agile Hunter joint military exercise. Hosted by the Training Centre of the Moldova Motorized Infantry Brigade in Balti, the exercise is aimed at approaching hybrid warfare threats, as well as boosting cooperation with foreign partners. The drills will end on March 19, and are part of a training programme running for four years. Moldovan Defence Minister Anatol Salaru has recently said cooperation with NATO member states, including Romania, will contribute to expanding Moldovas military experience, given the high security risks in the region.



    JHA – Justice and Home Affairs Ministers of EU Member States are today meeting in Brussels. The main point on the agenda is migration. The Justice and Home Affairs Council will look at progress reported with respect to the European Commissions December recommendation to modify the Schengen border code, which provides for setting up a European Border Watch. In another development, the Hungarian Government today declared a “state of crisis against the backdrop of increasing migration flows on its territory, as a reaction to the harsher rules introduced by others states confronted with large numbers of immigrants. On Wednesday, Macedonia closed down its border with Greece, after Slovenia, Croatia and Serbia announced new border restrictions. Thousands of immigrants are blocked on the Macedonian border and over 1,000 are in a camp on the Serbian border.



    HANDBALL – The Romanian womens team on Wednesday defeated the defending European, world and Olympic champions Norway on home turf, 25-20, in a match counting towards preliminary Group 1 of the European Championship due in December. The return leg will be played on Sunday in Stavanger. Following this result, Romania, bronze medallist at the World Championships of 2015 and coached by Swedish Tomas Ryde, has largely secured its qualification, ranking first in the group tables after three matches. Norway is ranked 2nd, followed by Belarus and Lithuania. Romania will also take part in the pre-Olympic tournament in Aarhus, Denmark, scheduled for March 18-20, alongside the host country, Uruguay and Montenegro.



    FILM – “Son of Saul, the recipient of this years Oscar award for best foreign language film and featuring Romanian actor Levente Molnar, is premiered on Friday in Romania. “Son of Saul is the debut film of filmmaker Laszlo Nemes and has scooped numerous international awards. The film tells the story of a Jewish prisoner in Hungary, forced to work for the Nazis at the Auschwitz gas chambers. While working in one of the furnaces, Saul discovers the body of a boy he suspects to be his own son, and embarks on an impossible journey, wanting to save the body from cremation and to give the boy a proper funeral. Levente Molnar, an actor with the State Theatre in Cluj Napoca, plays Sauls best friend in the film.


    (Translated by V. Palcu)

  • Romania’s Anti-Corruption Directorate Presents Activity Report for 2015

    Romania’s Anti-Corruption Directorate Presents Activity Report for 2015

    The campaign against high-level corruption in Romania is believed to have already started to overshadow the Italian prosecutors’ famous operation “Clean Hands” that swept through Italys political system in the early 1990s rooting out dirty politicians and businessmen.



    Due to the National Anti-Corruption Directorate (DNA), the spearhead of the anti-corruption campaign in Romania, 2015 saw a number of premieres for the Romanian justice system. The investigation and prosecution of a serving Prime Minister, the Social Democrat Victor Ponta, the arrest of a Constitutional Court judge, Toni Grebla, and of the Bucharest mayor, Sorin Oprescu, are the DNA’s most notable victories last year.



    Also last year, the DNA requested the approval for the arrest of the then finance minister, Darius Valcov. 2015 was also the year when three of Bucharest’s six district mayors were detained and twenty current and former MPs, fourteen county town mayors, nine county council presidents and one prefect were put on trial. Whether we talk about right –wing and left-wing politicians, from power and opposition, from the capital Bucharest or from other parts of Romania, corruption seems to have contaminated the entire political spectrum.



    According to a DNA release, the conviction rate of the people prosecuted is 90%, which proves the quality of proofs that criminal cases are built on, and the prosecutors’ professionalism. DNA chief, Laura Codruta Kovesi, has also said that following the Courts’ final rulings last year, the state has to retrieve almost 200 million euros. Kovesi emphasised once more the importance of fully enforcing judicial decisions by also recovering losses.



    Laura Codruta Kovesi: “The judiciary is making huge efforts to investigate and punish corruption cases by using the society’s financial resources. On the other hand, some of the people convicted, do not serve the sentence fully as they are released on parole without the losses being recovered or they use loopholes in administration. Such situations only lead to losing the state’s authority and an acute lack of trust in the state institutions.”



    Attending the presentation of the DNA’s activity report, President Klaus Iohannis said that the battle against corruption must continue at full tilt in Romania. Iohannis criticised Parliament’s attitude towards its members who broke the law and warned that their immunity should not obstruct justice.



    In his turn, PM Dacian Ciolos said that a joint commitment of Parliament, Government and the Judiciary was needed in order to reinstate trust in the state institutions. The Unites States Ambassador to Romania, Hans Klemm, has hailed the country’s progress in fighting corruption.



    (Translated by Elena Enache)



  • Postal Voting for Romanians Abroad

    Postal Voting for Romanians Abroad

    Romania’s Constitutional Court has unanimously ruled that the postal voting law is constitutional and rejected the appeal filed by some MPs. Passed at the end of October, the law, which gives Romanian citizens living abroad the possibility to vote by mail, comes to fix the flaws in the organisation of the voting process abroad.



    Thus, in the presidential election last November, thousands of Romanians faced the cold and the rain in long queues in front of the Romanian embassies and consulates abroad and many didn’t even manage to cast their ballots. The queues turned into spontaneous protests, and in Paris and Turin security forces used tear gas to disperse the angry voters. In Bucharest, the scandal led to the resignation of two foreign ministers while their boss, the then prime minister and leader of the Social Democratic Party, Victor Ponta, lost the election to his Liberal contender, Klaus Iohannis. The latter included, among the priorities of his presidential mandate, the adoption of a law that should introduce a more reasonable voting system for Romanian citizens abroad.



    The law was finally adopted, after numerous talks at parliamentary level, after mutual accusations had been publicly levelled against each other, by the Social Democrats, in the ruling coalition, and the Liberal opposition, after resignations and hunger strikes in the parliament committee that drew up the bill. In a first stage, the postal voting law will only apply to the Romanian parliamentary election next fall, and, if it proves effective, this voting system will also be used in the presidential and EP elections. Initiated by the Permanent Electoral Authority, the bill stipulates that voters residing or living abroad, who wish to vote by mail, must register in the Electoral Registry following an application submitted in person or mailed by post to the Romanian diplomatic mission or consular office in their country of residence.



    The version of the bill passed by the Chamber of Deputies eliminates the possibility for online voter registration, a provision that formed part of the earlier version passed by the Senate. The Chamber of Deputies also adopted an amendment saying that disclosure of the confidentiality of the vote and voting on behalf of another person are punished by law. The Permanent Electoral Authority has hailed the decision by the Constitutional Court, that deems the law constitutional and said its enforcement at the parliamentary election in 2016 is a victory for democracy, as it comes to support millions of Romanians living abroad.

  • Postal Voting for Romanians Abroad

    Postal Voting for Romanians Abroad

    Romania’s Constitutional Court has unanimously ruled that the postal voting law is constitutional and rejected the appeal filed by some MPs. Passed at the end of October, the law, which gives Romanian citizens living abroad the possibility to vote by mail, comes to fix the flaws in the organisation of the voting process abroad.



    Thus, in the presidential election last November, thousands of Romanians faced the cold and the rain in long queues in front of the Romanian embassies and consulates abroad and many didn’t even manage to cast their ballots. The queues turned into spontaneous protests, and in Paris and Turin security forces used tear gas to disperse the angry voters. In Bucharest, the scandal led to the resignation of two foreign ministers while their boss, the then prime minister and leader of the Social Democratic Party, Victor Ponta, lost the election to his Liberal contender, Klaus Iohannis. The latter included, among the priorities of his presidential mandate, the adoption of a law that should introduce a more reasonable voting system for Romanian citizens abroad.



    The law was finally adopted, after numerous talks at parliamentary level, after mutual accusations had been publicly levelled against each other, by the Social Democrats, in the ruling coalition, and the Liberal opposition, after resignations and hunger strikes in the parliament committee that drew up the bill. In a first stage, the postal voting law will only apply to the Romanian parliamentary election next fall, and, if it proves effective, this voting system will also be used in the presidential and EP elections. Initiated by the Permanent Electoral Authority, the bill stipulates that voters residing or living abroad, who wish to vote by mail, must register in the Electoral Registry following an application submitted in person or mailed by post to the Romanian diplomatic mission or consular office in their country of residence.



    The version of the bill passed by the Chamber of Deputies eliminates the possibility for online voter registration, a provision that formed part of the earlier version passed by the Senate. The Chamber of Deputies also adopted an amendment saying that disclosure of the confidentiality of the vote and voting on behalf of another person are punished by law. The Permanent Electoral Authority has hailed the decision by the Constitutional Court, that deems the law constitutional and said its enforcement at the parliamentary election in 2016 is a victory for democracy, as it comes to support millions of Romanians living abroad.

  • Teaching religion in schools, under heated debate

    Teaching religion in schools, under heated debate

    Religion in Romania is being taught at all levels of compulsory education, from the preparatory grade all the way through high school. After the collapse of the communist regime, religion was included in the curricula and has been taught uninterruptedly from 1990s to this day. However, for quite a few years now, several civil society organizations as well as some of the parents have begun to question the legitimacy of teaching religion in public schools, officially described as secular schools.



    Following a series of heated debates in the printed and social media, as well as in the wake of an official notification, Romania’s Constitutional Court ruled that pupils who want to attend religion classes should submit an application to that effect, while those who don’t want to take up religion classes are entitled to skip them, with no application form to be filled in and without notifying the school board. The decision has been met with contrasting reactions. Romania’s Secular-Humanist Association (ASUR) has for a while been running a campaign to keep the public informed on the optional status of religion as a school subject. Here is what one of ASUR’s founding members Toma Patrascu thinks about the ruling of the Constitutional Court.



    “The Constitutional Court’s recent ruling on the procedure to have children register for religion classes is a first step closer towards normality. Yet we need to examine the ruling very carefully and thus be able to grasp the broader context. The Court’s ruling does not bring anything new to the table. It practically does not change the law. Nowhere in the education law or in the law on religious denominations is it mentioned that pupils have to be registered randomly, by default, for the religion class. It all comes down to the fundamental right to study one’s religion. How can a school principal, the inspectorate or the ministry possibly know whether a child wants to attend religion classes or not, and if so, what type of religion class should they register for in the first place? We know all too well that, over the past 25 years or so, schools have been registering children by default for religion classes, which in most cases were classes of Christian-Orthodox religion. “



    Cristina Benga is a religion teacher. She gave us more details about the institutional status of the subject she teaches.



    ”Religion is not an optional subject, it’s on the list of compulsory subjects. However, parents have the right to enroll their children if the class observed their religious denomination. And herein lies the confusion. Religion is part of the common core of subjects, it is not optional. It is compulsory, with the provision that the option would have to be made in keeping with one’s denomination. The Constitutional Court’s ruling is not something unusual, from my point of view. Even prior to this parents had the opportunity to make an option. Yet what’s different this time is that parents need to write the application only when they want their kids to take religion classes.”



    Given that the law stipulates the compulsory status of the religion class and implicitly the teaching of the religion class in keeping with a certain religious denomination, the question arises as to the legitimacy of including that subject in the curricula of an purportedly secular education system. Here is Toma Patrascu from the Romanian Secular-Humanist Association.



    “Religion is a social phenomenon, and school cannot just sweep it under the carpet for one reason or another. In other words, religion should be discussed in school, but we must be careful as to how it is being discussed. The debate should be objective, neutral and of a secular nature. It must be looked at from a historical point of view, from a social and philosophical perspective, for children to understand the cultural significance of religion. Holding classes of catechism in school, as is the case at present, is wrong, because that’s what it basically means, to introduce children to the doctrine of his denomination. What teachers are doing right now in school is not religious education, it’s religious indoctrination, and this is wrong.”



    What may look like indoctrination to an agnostic, is mere information for teacher Cristina Benga.



    “Religion as a school subject is aimed at helping children develop and even reach certain inter-disciplinary levels. For instance, the Psalms by poet Tudor Arghezi are taught in Romanian language classes. We help children understand what psalms are from a religious point of view. And let’s define indoctrination. To pass from information to indoctrination is a long process, involving stages that we as teachers or as an education institution are not willing to assume. And I wonder – has by any chance the number of saints increased? Could anybody today say that this indoctrination has led to extremes? A vehement indoctrination would lead to isolating the believers. And this is not happening, because the purpose of a religion class is totally different, namely to help children become good, beautiful and free adults.”



    The number of applications registered shows that over 90% of the pupils, belonging to 18 religious denominations, want to attend classes of religion. Toma Patrascu believes that the percentage is so high also for reasons other than religious.



    “There is an explanation for this percentage. The younger the children are, the more inclined parents are to let them attend religion classes, because the school does not take responsibility for the way in which children spend their time while not attending those classes and therefore they are not supervised. In most cases, parents have no other solution but to let their children stay in class, because there is nothing else they could do. Schools have no alternatives for that period of time during which children do not attend that particular class of religion.”



    Teacher Cristina Benga too admits that there are some organisational problems.



    “This is something that should be solved at ministry level. Religion teachers have never objected to finding alternatives for these children. But it’s not us, the teachers, who are supposed to organize this. Had this particular responsibility been assigned to us, we would have solved it, because we do believe in each and every person’s freedom to make his own decisions and choices. The problem is that no organisational formula has been found at ministry level to solve this problem.”



    Unfortunately, the latest Constitutional Court decision fails to shed light in this matter, thus making things even more complicated. Although it highlights the unconstitutional character of the law allowing children to opt out of the religion class, it does say that the state is obliged to provide religion classes for those who want to attend them.