Radio România Internațional

Tag: elections timetable

  • A complicated electoral timetable in Romania

    A complicated electoral timetable in Romania

    Debated for a long time in the public space in Romania, the idea of ​​merging some of the elections marking the super-election year 2024 seems to have materialized. The local and European Parliament elections will take place at the same time, respectively on June 9, the two parties forming the government coalition, PSD (Social Democratic Party) and PNL (National Liberal Party) decided. The Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu, the leader of the Social Democrats, also announced that the presidential election will be held in September, most likely in two rounds, and the parliamentary elections in December. Ciolacu claims that the decision to merge the elections was made so as to guarantee a large voter turnout and to block the rise of what he calls extremist parties, which are gaining momentum throughout Europe. Moreover, although they belong to different European political families – PSD is a member of the Socialists group, and PNL of the European People’s Party, and will have their own candidates for mayoral, local and county council elections, the two big parties will go, for the first time, on a joint list at the European Parliament elections.

     

    Marcel Ciolacu: “We decided to have an electoral alliance for the European Parliament elections list. It is obvious that only the two big parties can unite and face an extremist wave. Neither of the two political forces can engage in this struggle alone.”

     

    In turn, the Speaker of the Romanian Senate, the leader of PNL, Nicolae Ciucă, says that the ruling coalition’s decision is meant to guarantee internal stability, while also taking into account the current international security context, making reference to the situation in neighboring Ukraine, invaded by the Russian army.

     

    Nicolae Ciucă: “From all the discussions we’ve had, Romanians want stability, they want peace, they want to see about their everyday life and, in this way, I think it is absolutely necessary that, at certain moments, the political parties should show a minimum sacrifice and give up pride, for everything that means the interest of the Romanians and the stability of the country.”

     

    The opposition, on the other hand, vehemently contests the merging of local elections with the European Parliament elections. The United Right Alliance, made up of the USR – Save Romania Union (in Parliament), The Force of the Right (a liberal dissidence) and PMP – People’s Movement Party (founded by the former president Traian Băsescu), announced that they would challenge in court all the laws issued by the government on the issue of combined elections.

     

    The president of the Force of the Right party, the former liberal Prime Minister Ludovic Orban: “If they come up with a bill, we will attack it at the Constitutional Court. If they issue an emergency ordinance, obviously, we will notify the Ombudsman, which is the only institution able to trigger constitutional control within the framework of emergency ordinances. We will also challenge in court both the ordinance and the government decision that will be issued.”

     

    Also from the opposition, the nationalist Alliance for the Union of Romanians – AUR considers the merging of elections illegal and unconstitutional but claims that it can adapt to any type of elections, whether they are held on time or combined.

     

    The AUR leader, George Simion: “Considering the government’s haste to hold combined elections, we will also change our strategy, if we also have local elections on June 9, in total contempt of the Constitution, and the state institutions fail to intervene through its representatives, we will accept common candidates from all rightist parties to fight with the PSD-PNL representative, no matter what his or her name is.”

     

    In their turn, the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania – UDMR says that it is not affected by this decision of the governing coalition, with which it governed until last year. (LS)

  • February 21, 2024

    February 21, 2024

    Defense – The impact of the war in Ukraine on Romania, the endowment programs of the Romanian army and the recent cyber-attacks will be among the topics discussed during today’s meeting of the Supreme Council of National Defense – CSAT. The consequences for Romania will be analyzed, after the deterioration of the security situation in the Black Sea region, in the context of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine. The progress recorded in the field of defense planning is another topic on the agenda, attention being directed, in particular, to the development of the endowment programs, the measures to increase the staffing level, as well as the retention of military personnel. The activity report of the CSAT for the year 2023 will also be presented, as well as that of the Cyber ​​Security Operative Council. Recently, there have been cyber-attacks on several hospitals in the country, and the Government is working, together with a European center, on a cyber security guide for IT administrators in the public system.

     

    Elections – The leaders of the governing coalition in Romania made up of the PSD (Social Democratic Party) and PNL (National Liberal Party), are meeting again today to decide whether this year’s elections will be merged or not. The liberals demand that the local elections be held in the summer, simultaneously with the European parliamentary ones, and the social democrats want the merging, in the autumn, of the parliamentary elections with the first round of the presidential election. Moreover, an idea emerged in the public debates that the parties in power could participate on common lists in the elections for the European Parliament, even though they belong to different European political families: PSD is a member of the European Socialists group and the PNL of the European People’s Party. From the opposition, USR (Save Romania Union) and AUR (The Alliance for the Union of Romanians) argue that the discussions on the topic of merging the elections do nothing but distract Romanians’ attention from the country’s real problems.

     

    Drinks – In Romania, the sale of energy drinks to minors will be sanctioned, according to a draft law adopted on Tuesday by the Chamber of Deputies, as the decision-making body. The ban will be valid both in shops and at vending machines inside hospitals or schools, and fines for violating the law can reach 30,000 lei (about 6,000 Euros).

     

    Tennis – The Romanian tennis player Sorana Cîrstea (22 WTA) is playing, today, in the round of 16 of the WTA 1,000 tournament in Dubai (United Arab Emirates), against the Croatian Donna Vekic (31 WTA), who managed to produce a big surprise on Tuesday, defeating the Belarusian Arina Sabalenka, world number two. Sorana leads 3-2 in direct matches with Vekic and has qualified after defeating Russian Veronika Kudermetova (19 WTA) 6-1, 6-4. Cîrstea dominated the game, especially in the first set, obtaining her third victory in four matches with Kudermetova. The Dubai tournament has total prizes worth over 3.2 million dollars.

     

    Bracelets – Three prehistoric gold bracelets, from Romanian archaeological sites, were brought to the country by Romanian prosecutors and police. They were taken from a museum in Antwerp (Belgium). The three movable cultural assets of great value, protected by law, were stolen by unknown perpetrators and subsequently alienated. The Belgian judicial authorities signaled, in October 2020, the presence of the three bracelets in the catalog of an auction in Monte Carlo, and the following month the Romanian police officers from the Service for the Protection of the National Cultural Heritage referred the matter to themselves. According to experts, the bracelets are dated around the year 1000 BC and they will end up in the custody of the National History Museum of Romania.

     

    Rabla – In Romania, the draft law for the modification of the program to stimulate the renewal of the national car fleet is put up for public debate on the website of the Environment Ministry. The “Rabla (Scrap) Classic” program does not come with changes. Thus, 7,000 lei (approx. 1,400 Euros) will be offered for the scrapping of a new car this year, and10,000 lei (approx. 2,000 Euros) for the scrapping of two cars. Eco-tickets can be added to these amounts. Regarding “Rabla Plus”, the amount of the eco-ticket, regardless of the number of used vehicles handed over for scrapping, will be 25,500 lei (approx. 5,100 Euros), for a new all-electric vehicle and 13,000 lei (approx. 2,600 Euros ) for the purchase of a hybrid electric vehicle. Also, 13,000 lei will be the discount in the case of buying an electric motorcycle. The document also provides that eco-tickets will not be granted for electric cars more expensive than 70,000 Euros or 60,000 Euros, in the case of those with a thermal engine. (LS)