Radio România Internațional

Tag: EP

  • May 13, 2019 UPDATE

    May 13, 2019 UPDATE

    JUDICIARY The European Commission confirmed on Monday that its first vice-president, Frans Timmermans, sent a new letter to the Romanian authorities on Friday, warning against the developments related to the rule of law in Romania. As the EC spokesman Margaritis Schinas put it, “The main concerns relate to developments interfering with judicial independence and the effective fight against corruption, including the protection of financial interests of the EU and particularly to the recently adopted amendments to the criminal code that create a de facto impunity for crimes. He added that unless these concerns are addressed or if further negative measures are taken, such as the promulgation of the latest amendments to the criminal legislation, the Commission will immediately activate the rules for safeguarding the rule of law and will suspend the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism. This is the instrument used by the Commission to monitor developments in the Romanian judiciary ever since the country joined the bloc in 2007. On April 24, the European Commission announced it would closely monitor the draft amendments to the Criminal Code and Code of Criminal Procedure, adopted by the Chamber of Deputies, and reiterated that Romania must immediately resume reforms in this field.



    EASTERN PARTNERSHIP Brussels is hosting for 2 days several events marking the 10th anniversary of the Eastern partnership. Romania is represented by the head of state, Klaus Iohannis, and the foreign minister, Teodor Melescanu. Officials for the 28 EU member states and the 6 partner states, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine, are assessing the progress made in an ambitious schedule for the coming year, aimed at ensuring concrete benefits for the citizens of the entire region, by means of efforts targeting stronger economies, governments and societies. The Eastern Partnership is an initiative that consists in the creation of a common area of democracy, prosperity, stability and close cooperation between the EU and the partner countries.



    POLL The Army, the Church and the Romanian Academy are the institutions Romanian trust the most, according to the public opinion Barometre released on Monday by the Romanian Academy. The survey indicates that 68% of the respondents have “a lot of confidence in the Army, around 57% in the Church and over 45% in the Romanian Academy. Next come, in descending order, the Police, the Presidency, the National Bank of Romania, the City Hall, the Mass Media, the Constitutional Court, the Government, Parliament and the political parties. As for the international institutions, Romanians have “a lot of confidence in NATO – over 56%, EU – more than 55%, the UN – over 52%. The survey was conducted between April 12 and May 3.



    CORRUPTION The Bucharest Court Monday sentenced a former mayor of Bucharest, Sorin Oprescu, to four and a half years in prison for bribe-taking, and dismissed the charges of money laundering. The ruling is not final and may be appealed against. In November 2015, the National Anti-Corruption Directorate indicted Sorin Oprescu for bribe-taking, money laundering, abuse of office and forming an organised crime group. Sorin Oprescu, a former member of the Social Democratic Party, was elected mayor of Bucharest in 2008, running as a non-affiliated candidate, and won a second term in office in 2012.



    (translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)

  • April 30, 2019 UPDATE

    April 30, 2019 UPDATE

    MAY DAY This year, Romanians are celebrating May Day – the International Workers Day, immediately after the Orthodox Easter. The Black Sea coast resorts are the destination of choice for many Romanian tourists, alongside the Danube Delta and the rural regions of Maramures in the north-west. Other Romanians have chosen foreign destinations as well. Interior Ministry staff have been mobilised in particular in the places where major public events are organised.




    VISIT The PM of Romania, Viorica Dăncilă, will be on a visit to Poland on May 1 and 2. On Wednesday, she will take part in Warsaw in a conference of the heads of state and government of the Central and East European countries having joined the EU since 2004: Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Croatia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Romania, Slovakia and Hungary. On Thursday, the Romanian official will take part in the International March of the Living, an annual educational event in which participants walk the distance between the Nazi death camps of Auschwitz and Birkenau. Viorica Dăcilă will also attend a commemoration ceremony in Birkenau, alongside government officials, religious leaders, student and children organisations.




    JUDICIARY The Deputy Prime Minister and interim Minister of Justice Ana Birchall suspended on Monday the procedures to select a new Prosecutor General in Romania, as well as that for selecting the deputy prosecutor with Eurojust, the agency dealing with criminal cooperation between EU member states. She said that the procedures will resume soon. On April 10, the Justice Ministry announced new procedures for selecting the Prosecutor General, after Minister Toader turned down all 4 candidates. Interviews under the new procedure were scheduled for May 7. Under the law, the Justice Ministers proposal for prosecutor general has to be approved by the Higher Council of Magistracy, and by President Iohannis. Augustin Lazars term in office ended on April 27, with Bogdan Licu appointed as interim prosecutor general.




    EP ELECTIONS The campaign for the European Parliament elections, scheduled for May 26, continues in Romania. 13 political groups are running: from the ruling coalition, the Social Democrats and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats, as well as the Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania, which has a collaboration protocol with the coalition. From the opposition, taking part are the National Liberal Party, the USR-PLUS Alliance, the Peoples Movement Party, and ProRomania, a Social Democratic splinter. From outside Parliament, in the running are the UNPR, the National Unity Bloc, United Romania, PRODEMO, the Romanian Socialist Party, and the Independent Social Democratic Party. Three independents have also announced their candidacy. Romania will have 33 members in the new European Parliament. The 33rd MEP can only take office after Brexit comes into effect. Romanians abroad can go to 441 polling stations, most of them in Italy, Spain, and neighbouring Moldova. On that same day, Romanians will also vote in a referendum on the judiciary, called by President Klaus Iohannis.




    ABDICATION Emperor Akihito of Japan, aged 85, Tuesday ended his 30-year reign, being the first Japanese monarch to abdicate in over 2 centuries. As of May 1, Japan enters a new imperial era, called Reiwa, corresponding to the rule of Akihitos son, Naruhito (59). “I sincerely wish that the Reiwa era will be a stable and fruitful one, and I pray, with all my heart, for peace and happiness for all the people in Japan and around the world, Emperor Akihito said in his abdication address. Akihito took over the throne on January 8, 1989, at the age of 55, after the death of Hirohito, under whose rule Japan fought in WW II. Japan has the oldest monarchy in the world, and the Japanese imperial family is the longest hereditary dynasty, going back 2,600 years.



    (translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)

  • April 4, 2019 UPDATE

    April 4, 2019 UPDATE

    Referendum — The Romanian President Klaus Iohannis on Thursday announced that the themes which he would submit to the vote at the May 26 referendum, held simultaneously with the EP elections, are related to forbidding amnesty and pardon of corruption crimes and forbidding the government to pass emergency decrees related to criminal offences and punishments, correlated with the right of other authorities to notify the Constitutional Court over such decrees. The Romanian citizens are called to decide whether they want the effects of a person’s convictions to be erased and whether they want to allow the government to continue passing emergency decrees on sensitive issues such as the organization of the judiciary and the criminal legislation, the president added. He again warned the governing coalition not to pass emergency decrees targeting criminal legislation before the citizens can have their say in the referendum. The Social Democratic Party announced it was not opposed to the themes of the referendum on justice while the opposition Liberal Party said the president’s initiative was very good for the society.



    European Prosecutor — The investigation of the former chief prosecutor of the National Anti-corruption Directorate in Romania, Laura Codruta Kovesi at this very moment is an obvious obstacle to her candidacy to the position of European chief prosecutor, the European Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality, Vera Jourova, said Thursday, in Bucharest. In Brussels, the negotiators of the EP and of the Council of the EU have not reached a consensus over the appointment of the European chief prosecutor, a position for which Laura Codruta Kovesi is also running. She is backed by the EP while the Council of the EU supports the French Jean-Francois Bohnert. According to regulations in force, the EP and the Council of the EU appoint jointly a European chief prosecutor for a 7-year term which cannot be renewed. On Wednesday, the EC and the EP reiterated their support for Kovesi. After the president of the EP Antonio Tajani asked the Romanian authorities to stop obstructing her candidacy to the European public prosecutor’s office, Romania’s High Court of Cassation and Justice lifted the judicial restrictions placed on Kovesi last week by the prosecutors of a new special department for the investigation of magistrates as part of a case in which Kovesi is accused of abuse of office, bribe taking and false testimony. The last date scheduled for negotiations between the EP and the Council of the EU is April 10.



    Bratislava — The Romanian PM Viorica Dancila is paying an official visit to Slovakia on Friday where she will meet with her counterpart Peter Pellegrini. According to a government communiqué, the visit is aimed at deepening cooperation between the two states from a bilateral, European and regional perspective. The agenda of the PM’s visit also includes a visit to the city of Banska Bystrica where she will hold talks with the Slovak PM and will lay a flower wreathe in the Slovak National Uprising Square. The Romanian official will also go to Zvolen, at the military cemetery where more than 10 thousand Romanian soldiers, killed in the fight for the liberation of Czechoslovakia from the Nazi occupation, are buried. (translation by L. Simion)

  • Reactions to President Macron’s proposals on reforming the EU

    Reactions to President Macron’s proposals on reforming the EU

    Creating a ‘European preference’ line in terms of competition, protecting the political life from external interference and cyber attacks, setting up a European Security Council that should also include Great Britain and revising the Schengen agreement are some of the proposals made by the French President in an op-ed called ‘For a European renaissance’ which was published in multiple European newspapers on Monday evening.



    President Macron suggests that, by the end of 2019, a conference should be organized together with representatives of the European institutions and of the member states, which should tackle the changes necessary for the new political project. As regards Brexit, President Macron believes that the main problem is not the UK’s membership to the EU but the lies and irresponsible statements made, which might destroy the European project.



    In another move, Emmanuel Macron believes that a ban should be put on the funding of the European political parties by foreign powers as well as all on the online incitement to hatred and violence. In relation to migration, President Macron says the Schengen free movement Agreement needs to be revised. He also advocates the creation of a European defense and security treaty meant to define the obligations of each state in terms of defense, in close relation with NATO, which should entail an increase in military expenses, the activation of the mutual defense clause and a European Security Council which should also include Great Britain. On social rights, Macron proposes a ‘social shield’ guaranteeing the same pay in the same workplace and a minimum wage appropriate to each country and discussed collectively every year.



    Reactions to Macron’s proposals were not late to appear. In Bucharest, PM Viorica Dancila said she was eager to read President Macron’s plan which Romania, as president of the Council of the EU, welcomes, given its concern for the future of Europe. The leader of the ruling Social Democratic Party in Romanian Liviu Dragnea said that Romania should support the organization of a Conference for Europe, a project in which it should take an active part. The proposals of the French President were received with reticence by the Romanian MEPs.



    The Liberal Norica Nicolai claimed Macron’s message was an electoral move, while Marian Jean Marinescu representing the European People’s Party group believes Macron’s project is nothing but a publicity stunt. In exchange, the president of the European Council Donald Tusk hailed the reforms that call for an enhanced cooperation for what Macron termed as the ‘renaissance of Europe’ and the president of the European Commission Jean Claude Juncker praised Macron’s firm commitment to identifying and meeting the European challenges.

  • Reactions to the European documents on Romania

    Reactions to the European documents on Romania

    Tuesday’s vote on the resolution issued by the European Parliament and the release of the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism report by the EC, both equally critical of the performance of the Power in Bucharest, have fuelled the already heated debates and polemics on the Romanian political scene. The European assessments are like two bad grades for the current governance, says President Klaus Iohannis, a consistent critic of the cabinet made up of the Social Democratic Party and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats.



    Klaus Iohannis: “These multiple changes and intentions to change the justice laws and the Criminal Codes have drawn public attention in a negative way. These things are extremely detrimental to Romania. Obviously, these two documents are practically telling us that Romania slipped back to the point it was 11 years ago, before joining the union.”



    Her back against the wall, the Social Democratic Prime Minister, Viorica Dancila says Romania should not be judged by the documents drafted somewhere else and promises that her cabinet will respond.



    Viorica Dăncilă: “Let us not judge Romania now only based on certain criticism, some more or less real and realistic resolutions, based on certain things that some people are saying. We will respond to those things.”



    The leader of the Social Democratic Party and the strongman of the coalition, Liviu Dragnea, believes, in his turn, that beyond any resolutions and CVM report, other issues are important to Romania, such as healthcare and education. In turn, the leader of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats, the junior party in the ruling coalition, Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu, believes the CVM report is not objective and he accuses the European Commission of having politicised it.



    Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu: “The Commission steps into an unjustified political area, because the report is mainly a technical instrument and I’ve lately seen a series of political approaches which cast doubt on the way in which the Commission is working with the member states. I don’t believe the Commission could question the options made by the member states regarding some domains which don’t fall in what we can call the logics of subsidiarity.”



    In exchange, the leader of the National Liberal Party, in opposition, Ludovic Orban, is accusing the Power of pushing Romania to the outskirts of the continent.



    This standpoint is also shared by the President of the Save Romania Union, Dan Barna: “This government has managed to take Romania to the periphery of Europe. Now, we are clearly and explicitly behind Bulgaria as well, and the next step is outside Europe. This government should step down and we are calling for the resignation of this government. Liviu Dragnea and the Social Democratic Party are currently dragging Romania out of Europe, we are also lagging behind Bulgaria, with nobody left behind us.”



    The leader of the People’s Movement Party, Eugen Tomac, also says that after it has never synchronised itself with Brussels, the current government has got a red card from the community leaders.

  • November 7, 2018 UPDATE

    November 7, 2018 UPDATE

    Doha — The Romanian PM Viorica Dancila on Wednesday presided over an economic forum held in Doha, on the occasion of her official visit to Qatar. In this context, the PM presented the main projects and business opportunities that can be implemented by means of public-private partnerships as well as the intention of the Romanian authorities to cooperate more closely with businesspeople from Qatar. PM Dancila encouraged them to come and invest in Romania in key sectors such as infrastructure, agriculture, tourism and healthcare. She highlighted Romania’s geostrategic position and economic growth reported in the past years.



    Cooperation — The European company Airbus and the Romanian company IAR Ghimbav have signed a contract of exclusive cooperation for a period of 15 years for the production, in Romania, of the twin-engine multirole helicopter H215M. Airbus and IAR have been, for more than a decade, partners in the Airbus Helicopters Romania company, a successful center specializing in maintenance and repair work services for a wide range of civil and military helicopters from Romania and other countries. Export contracts account for 75% of the Airbus Helicopters Romania’s turnover. In 2016, Ghimbav saw the inauguration of the Airbus Helicopters Industries factory specialized in the production of H215M helicopters. IAR, a company with majority state-owned assets, is one of Romania’s leaders in the aeronautics field, being specialized in the production and maintenance of helicopters. Airbus is a world leader in aeronautics and services in the space domain.



    CCR — Romania’s Constitutional Court (CCR) on Wednesday admitted, with a majority of votes, the government’s notification regarding the existence of a juridical conflict of a constitutional nature between Parliament and the High Court of Cassation and Justice regarding the setting up of panels of judges. Thus, the High Court of Cassation and Justice is bound to take the necessary measures, as soon as possible, to appoint all the 5 members of the panels by drawing of lots, not only 4 judges as has happened since 2014. The panels of 5 judges with the High Court judging criminal cases are dealing with important cases in which politicians such as the PSD leader L. Dragnea, the leader of ALDE C. P. Tariceanu and the former head of the government’s general secretariat, Toni Grebla, a former judge with the Constitutional Court are also involved. Following the decision of the CCR many cases handled by the High Court of Cassation and Justice might be re-judged from scratch.



    Washington — The Romanian interior minister Carmen Dan will be the US on Thursday and Friday to participate in the EU-US Justice and Home Affairs Ministerial Meeting. At this high level meeting, which is also going to be attended by the US Attorney General, the Romanian minister will present the home affairs priorities of Romania’s future presidency of the EU Council. The meeting is organized by the Austrian presidency of the EU Council in Washington DC, according to a preset timetable, namely in the first half of the year, the venue of the meeting is in the state holding the presidency of the EU Council, while in the second half of the year, the venue is in the US capital. The EU is represented in Washington by the interior and justice ministers of the Austrian presidency of the EU Council, by Romania’s delegation, a country that will take over the EU Council presidency on January 1, 2019 and by the EU Commissioners for migration, home affairs and security.



    Ashgabat — The Romanian athlete Nicolae Onica on Wednesday won the bronze medal in the total event, the 96 kg category, at the World Weightlifting Championships held in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan. In the final classification he was outperformed by Iranian Sohran Moradi and Chinese Tao Tian. (new translated and updated by L. Simion)

  • May 21, 2018 UPDATE

    May 21, 2018 UPDATE

    HEALTH – Romanian Health Minister Sorina Pintea is attending from Monday until Friday the 71st World Health Assembly, held in Geneva, Switzerland. Minister Pintea will emphasize during an address on Tuesday, the importance of universal access to medical services. Also, she will have bilateral meetings with delegations from Norway, Portugal and Germany and with representatives of the World Bank. Its main functions are to determine the policies of the Organization, appoint the Director-General, supervise financial policies, and review and approve the proposed programme budget. The Health Assembly is held annually in Geneva, Switzerland.




    PARLIAMENT – The European Parliament has announced that the meeting with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Tuesday is no longer behind closed doors and will be live-streamed. Earlier, news that the Facebook chiefs meeting with the parliaments political group leaders would be in private, had been criticised. The European Parliament meeting will touch on similar subjects as the hearing in the US Congress in April. The world’s largest social network has come under scrutiny over the way it handles personal data after revelations that British consultancy Cambridge Analytica improperly accessed the Facebook data of 87 million users.




    BUCHAREST – European Commissioner for Regional Policy Corina Cretu said on Monday in Bacau, eastern Romania, that Romania has not been prepared enough to access EU funds for quality projects ever since it joined the European Union, in 2007. Cretu said the delays were caused, among others, by bureaucracy and excessive legislation. In Bacau, Commissioner Cretu alongside PM Viorica Dancila and the Minister of European funds, Rovana Plumb, are taking part in a conference on urban investment. In a communiqué ahead of the visit to Bacau, Corina Cretu said that over 1 billion euros would be invested in urban development in Romania.




    CHISINAU — In the first round of the snap elections for the mayoral seat in Chisinau, the capital of the Republic of Moldova, no candidate got the majority. The top ranked candidates will face off in the decisive round in two weeks, pro-Russian Socialist Ion Ceban, who got 41% of the vote, and Andrei Nastase, pro-European, on behalf of the Dignity and Truth Platform, with around 32%. Two pro-European candidates, representing the Liberal Party and the National Union Party, who together got around 8% of the votes, announced their support for Nastase in the second round.




    CELEBRATION — Orthodox believers celebrated on Monday the feast of Saints Constantine and Helena, whom almost two million Romanians are named after. Emperor Constantine issued the Milan Edict in the year 313 CE, making Christianity an official religion in the Roman Empire. His mother Helena built churches in Bethlehem and Golgotha.




    REGULATIONS — New traffic regulations have been issued in Romania. Drivers who do not get their mandatory annual check-up are up for a fine and seizure of their registration and tags. The same penalty applies for cars that exchange owners, but do not get registered in the new owners name within 90 days of the purchase. As a novelty, auto mechanics who perform annual check-ups have an obligation to make a video recording of the procedure.




    AGREEMENT— Romania and Ukraine have agreed to introduce two pairs of trains linking Suceava, in north-western Romania to Cernauti, in western Ukraine, starting on January 1st, 2019. The announcement was made by the Ukrainian ministry in charge of infrastructure after a meeting between Ukrainian Minister for European Integration, Viktor Dovhan, and Junior Secretary for the Ministry of Transportation, Maria Magdalena Grigore. The Ukrainian community in Romania is estimated at 400,000. (Translated by Elena Enache)

  • Justice and the rule of law

    Justice and the rule of law

    Voiceless tension is reported in Bucharest prior to the promised presentation by Justice Minister Tudorel Toader of a report on the activity of the General Prosecutor’s Office, of the National Anticorruption Directorate and of the Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism. Chief prosecutor of the National Anticorruption Directorate, Laura Codruta Kovesi, is in the focus of the media. Some view her as a heroine of the anti-corruption fight, while others, namely politicians in trouble with the law and their media supporters, have turned her into their obsession.



    Her critics say that her resignation or dismissal would be the only honourable solution after her subordinated prosecutors allegedly tried to fabricate evidence against leading figures of the Social-Democratic Party, the main party in the ruling coalition for the past six years. Laura Codruta Kovesi’s defenders say that the politicians who got a sentence for corruption acts in a court of first instance are the most vehement critics.



    Last week, president Klaus Iohannis called them “offenders”, reiterating his trust in the National Anticorruption Directorate and its chief prosecutor. On Tuesday, he said that for a nation aspiring to a dignified future, the law and independence of those in the service of justice were not negotiable or tradeable. That was the message conveyed by the president to the graduates of the National Institute of Magistracy, whom he assured of his “full support” in the fulfillment of their mission.



    President Iohannis went on to say that they took office at a time when the act of justice was publicly questioned by the very persons brought to justice. However, that attempt should not make magistrates break away from the constitutional principles of legality, impartiality and equality — the president concluded. The continuation of the anti-corruption fight and the consolidation of the rule of law in Romania are also a concern of EU officials.



    That is exactly what the president of the European Parliament, Antonio Tajani, told Romanian Prime Minister, Viorica Dancila. He even suggested to Viorica Dancila, who was previously an MEP, that she should come before the European Parliament to present Romania’s projects. The invitation was made after Viorica Dancila had expressed dissatisfaction with the fact that Justice Minister Tudorel Toader had not been allowed to address the European Parliament earlier this month, when he wanted to explain the amendments which the ruling coalition in Romania wanted to make to the justice laws.



    These amendments were criticized by the right wing opposition and civil society that claim that they are designed to stop the anti-corruption fight and subordinate the magistrates. Recently, the president of the European Council, Donald Tusk underscored that “the rule of law and irreversible progress in the fight against corruption, in line with the high expectations of Romanian society, remain crucial in ensuring that all Romanian citizens are able to benefit fully from all the opportunities offered by membership of the Union”.

  • February 7, 2018 UPDATE

    February 7, 2018 UPDATE

    Strasbourg — The European Commissioner for Justice, Věra Jourová, on Wednesday reiterated, in the plenum of the European Parliament meeting in Strasbourg, the European Commission’s appeal on Romania’s Parliament to start debates on the modifications of the justice laws in line with Brussels’ recommendations and to obtain a consensus. The European official said that the European Commission was ready to continue dialogue with the Romanian authorities and offer its support. She added that after 10 years of constant effort, Romania has one of the best judicial systems. The European Commissioner for Justice also recalled that in December 2017, in the latest Mechanism for Cooperation and Verification report, the EC expressed concern with the modifications to the justice laws and debates have extended ever since. The debate in Strasbourg regarding the rule of law and the reform of the judiciary in Romania was decided on January 18 by the EP following the modifications brought to the justice laws late last year by the governing coalition in Romania. The modifications were harshly criticized by the associations of magistrates, the opposition and the EU.



    CCR — The Constitutional Court of Romania on Wednesday postponed for March 6th making a decision related to the notification made by President Klaus Iohannis, which refers to the modifications brought to a law under which MPs, ministers, councilors/local officials, prefects and the county council presidents can also hold the position of individual trader. President Iohannis says that in this case the procedure for adopting the law was violated and that the Senate was supposed to be the decision-making body. He also added that by eliminating these incompatibility criteria, the integrity standards will be diminished and the rule of law will be weakened. According to the President, the respective law runs counter to the international integrity standards which Romania assumed, thus infringing Constitutional provisions.



    Brussels — The European Commission estimates that Romania’s economic growth will slow down, the growth rate dropping from 4.5% in 2018 to 4% in 2019, shows the 2018 Winter Economic Forecast published Wednesday by the community body. Estimates show that the rise in private consumption will not be very high this year because inflation impacts more the real available revenues and the salary increase will slow down. Nevertheless, private consumption will continue to be the main engine behind economic growth in 2018 and 2019. Investments are estimated to grow if supported by the implementation of projects funded from European money, say the European body representatives. The EC also estimates that inflation will increase following the higher pressure caused by demand, and the effects of tax cuts will not be seen. The inflation rate is estimated to reach 4.1% in 2018 and 3% in 2019. In another development, also on Wednesday, the Board of the National Bank of Romania decided to increase the monetary policy interest rate at 2.25% per year from 2%.



    German coalition deal — The Conservatives and Social-Democrats in Germany on Wednesday reached an agreement to form a coalition Government, four months after legislative elections were held in this country. The Christian-Democratic Union, its ally from Bavaria the Christian-Social Union and the Social-Democratic Party managed to agree on the distribution of ministries in the new cabinet. The parties also overcame divergences linked to the healthcare reform and tightening rules for short-term employment contracts. After a 20-hour round of talks, the German Social-Democrats, who ruled over 2013-2017 alongside the Conservatives, will keep the Labor, Social-Affairs, Justice, Finance and Foreign Affairs ministries. The Finance Ministry was previously held by Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian-Democratic Union. (news translated and updated by Lacramioara Simion)

  • The Week in Review, 13-19 April

    The Week in Review, 13-19 April

    The International Monetary Fund has revised upwards its initial predictions about Romania’s economic growth rate


    The Romanian economy will grow at a faster pace this year than initially predicted, says the International Monetary Fund in its latest report. The Fund has revised its forecast about Romania’s GDP in 2015 up by 0.3%, to 2.7%. In 2016, the IMF now expects a 2.9% growth rate, compared with its previous 2.5% put forward in October last year. The main factor underlying this growth is the consolidation of private consumption amid a strong increase in real wages, low oil prices and record-low interest rates. Standard & Poor’s rating agency estimates that Romania’s economy will grow by 3% on average every year between 2015 and 2018. The agency affirmed its long and short term local and hard currency BBB-/A-3 ratings for Romania with a stable outlook.



    The European Parliament held a hearing on the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism with regard to Romania and Bulgaria


    The European Parliament’s Committee on Budgets on Tuesday heard a series of Romanian and Bulgarian officials on the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism applied to the two states when they joined the European Union in 2007. The hearing was held at the request of Romania, who believes its success in combating corruption should be acknowledged and a clear timetable should be set for entering the passport-free Schengen area. The chief prosecutor of the National Anticorruption Directorate Laura Codruta Kovesi said the monitoring mechanism played an essential role in the reform of the judiciary and the fight against corruption in Romania. She reiterated that the latter should not be subject to political interference and said the state should ensure the necessary instruments to combat corruption. “The fight against high-level corruption in Romania is impressive”, said the Secretary General of the European Commission, Catherine Day during the European Parliament hearing. She said Romania must continue to consolidate the results obtained, especially in fighting corruption at lower levels. In another development, the Clean Romania Coalition and the Academic Society in Romania have published a Map of Local Corruption in Romania indicating the country’s most corrupt regions. Bucharest is the most corrupt area in Romania, followed by the counties of Maramures, in the north-west and Bacau, in the east, while the least corrupt counties are Salaj, in the north-west, Mehedinti and Teleorman, both in the south, and Botosani, in the north-east. The map is based on the figures released by the National Anticorruption Directorate in the last five years. The survey also shows that mayors are the public officials most vulnerable to corruption.



    The state of infrastructure in Romania


    EU Commissioner for Regional Policy Corina Cretu visited Romania, where together with Transport Minister Ioan Rus she visited a segment of the Sebes-Turda motorway, a priority project for the European Commission. The project is part of the Trans-European Transport Network TEN-T which the Commission finances. The motorway is to be completed by mid-2016 and will connect the Transylvania motorway, in the centre, to the European Corridor IV that runs all the way to the Black Sea. Additionally, the Pitesti-Sibiu motorway segment has become a top priority of Romania’s transport strategy, the European Commission notes. The employees of the Dacia Renault car plant in Mioveni, southern Romania, have this week protested against the Government’s delay in building the motorway, which they see as potentially having negative consequences on their jobs.



    Verbal hostilities continue between Russia, NATO and Romania


    In the last few months, Moscow’s threats on European member states hosting elements of the NATO anti-ballistic shield have doubled. The latest episode in the series of harsh exchanges between Bucharest and Moscow authorities came on Thursday, when the Chief of General Staff of the Armed Forces of Russia General Valery Gerasimov warned that any state hosting elements of the shield, such as Romania and Poland, would become priority targets for Moscow. Bucharest and NATO officials were quick to respond. In a message posted on a social networking site, Prime Minister Victor Ponta dismissed the threats and criticism voiced by various officials of the Russian Federation, arguing that they do not intimidate Romanian authorities and cannot produce a change in Romania’s strategy. NATO spokesperson Oana Lungescu gave assurances that the Alliance’s anti-missile shield does not target Russia.



    NATO military drills in Romania


    In the current regional security context, Romania is hosting two important multi-national military drills conducted by NATO. In the southeast, over 2,200 military and equipment from Romania, the United States, the United Kingdom and the Republic of Molodva are involved in the Wind Spring 2015 military drill, which will end on April 30. Wind Spring seeks to bring stability and security in the region, considering the tense security climate in NATO’s eastern flank. In Campia Turzii, north-western Romania, a joint military drill is taking place, bringing together 350 US military and some 300 Romanian military. Commander of the US Air Forces in Europe Lt. Gen. Darryl Roberson said the drill is NATO’s response to Russia, signalling the US’s concern for ensuring security in Europe as one of its top priorities.