Radio România Internațional

Tag: fight against corruption

  • Laura Codruta Kovesi voted for the position of European chief prosecutor

    Laura Codruta Kovesi voted for the position of European chief prosecutor

    The former head of the National
    Anticorruption Directorate, Laura Codruta Kovesi, has received the backing of
    the Council of the European Union in her race for the position of European
    chief prosecutor. On Thursday the Committee of Representatives of European
    Union Member States gave Kovesi 17 of the 22 votes in favor. The European
    Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) will be founded next year and start its
    activity in 2021. According to European law, the European prosecutor is jointly
    appointed by Parliament and the Council for a one-time seven-year term in
    office. Pundits say Kovesi is almost sure to take over, as the European
    Parliament has expressed its support for the Romanian candidate both in the
    previous and in the current tenure. Having spearheaded the fight against
    corruption for years, but also believed to have instrumented an abusive
    prosecution system, Kovesi has often been labeled as Romania’s most powerful
    woman.

    Shortly before being sacked last year in June, following a
    Constitutional Court ruling, Kovesi admitted during a debate venued at the UN
    headquarters in New York, that Romania’s greatest challenge remains the
    preservation of the independence of judges and prosecutors. There have
    been repeated attempts at modifying anticorruption legislation to limit the
    legislative instruments used by anticorruption prosecutors or to decriminalize
    certain offences. There have been cases where requests to lift the immunity of
    politicians charged with corruption were turned down. The whole justice system
    has seen attacks by means of fake news or public statements aimed at weakening
    public credibility in the system, Kovesi said, claiming the
    Social-Democratic Party and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats in power
    have tried to rein in the fight against corruption and subordinate magistrates.
    Beyond controversies, the facts speak volumes. In the last five years with
    Kovesi at its helm, the Directorate has prosecuted 14 ministers and former
    ministers and 53 MPs. Of these, 27 were handed final sentences. During the same
    period, the Directorate seized over 2.3 million dollars in assets.

    The recently
    appointed pro-European Prime Minister in the Republic of Moldova, Maia Sandu,
    has offered Laura Codruta Kovesi the leadership of the Anti-graft Prosecutor’s
    Office in Moldova. Conversely, the political class in Bucharest has had
    contrasting reactions to Thursday’s vote. Social-Democrat Prime Minister
    Viorica Dancila and the leader of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats, Calin
    Popescu-Tariceanu have overtly expressed their discontent and reiterated
    criticism against Kovesi. President Klaus Iohannis and the National Liberal
    Party and Save Romania Union in opposition have hailed Thursday’s vote, which
    some say they tried to take credit for. According to Mrs. Kovesi, the vote is
    also the result of the civic actions and street protests staged by ordinary
    citizens, who have constantly supported her ever since she was sacked from the
    helm of the Directorate, believing, as she often said, that corruption can be
    defeated, never give up!


    (Translated by V. Palcu)

  • Political statements and actions

    Political statements and actions

    For one and a half years, protests have periodically been taking place in Bucharest, in the big cities of Romania and in other countries where Romanians went in search of a better life against what hard line critics of the leftist majority emerging in the wake of the 2016 elections believe it is the latter’s bid to subordinate justice and curtail the fight against corruption. The Social Democratic Party (PSD) has long tried to hold a big rally as a response to those protests. After hesitations in terms of the date and theme of the rally, the president of the Social-Democratic Party, Liviu Dragnea announced the date of the rally — June 9 –and its purpose:



    “We are holding this rally to show we are determined to carry through our undertaking for Romania to become a democratic country, a country where civil freedoms and rights are observed. We expect all those wishing to live in a free country, in a country with no more institutions subject to terror, in a country where an illegal structure is a parasite on the state institutions, a parasite on decision-making, to come to the rally.”



    So, the theme of the rally is again justice. The Social-Democrats will target the so-called “parallel state”, an alleged illegal, underground entity, where according to the PSD and its partner ALDE, politicians, prosecutors and secret services allegedly collaborate to compromise those they find undesirable through public intoxication, fake abuses and files. In another development, Liviu Dragnea says there is no connection between the June 9 rally and the sentence which the PSD’s leader, who has already got a suspension of conviction for attempted electoral fraud, might get for abuse of office on the eve of the rally. The National Liberal Party in opposition also plans to take action to get backing for the no-confidence motion they want to file against the government. The president of the National Liberal Party, Ludovic Orban:



    “We will surely call on all Romanian citizens who are fed up with the PSD and who realize that the PSD mocks Romania and compromises the chances of each Romanian to have a better life. We will call on them to take part in the protests along with our members and supporters.”



    The Liberals believe that their initiative related to the motion of no confidence might be successful given that certain PSD members have left the party because of Dragnea’s authoritarian attitude and the party running the risk of collapsing under the latter’s leadership. The former PSD members joined the party of the former Social-Democrat leader and Prime Minister Victor Ponta. A constitutional crisis might dangerously occur against that complicated political background. Notified by the Justice Minister, the Constitutional Court demands that president Klaus Iohannis dismiss the head of the National Anti-Corruption Directorate, Laura Codruta Kovesi. Pending the publication of the motivation behind a decision which many find unexplainable and which is unlike previous rulings through its imperative tone, tension is mounting as well as fears about the fate of justice and the fight against corruption, which analysts believe are legitimate.


    (Translated by A.M. Palcu)

  • May 11, 2018 UPDATE

    May 11, 2018 UPDATE

    VISIT – The Romanian PM Viorica Dăncilă is on a visit to the Vatican until Sunday. On Friday the PM was received in audience by Pope Francis. According to a communiqué issued by the Romanian Government, PM Dancila thanked the Pope for the special attention he has always paid to relationships with Romania and expressed hope that the Pope will pay an apostolic visit to our country. So far, the agenda of the talks has included, among others, the protection of human rights and ensuring religious freedom. The PMs visit to the Vatican comes against the backdrop of very good bilateral relations, in a year when Romania celebrates the Centennial of the Great Union, which will be marked at the Holy See through a number of academic and cultural events.



    CORRUPTION – Liviu Dragnea, the head of the Social Democratic Party, in power in Romania, told the Associated Press that in Romania the fight against corruption has gone too far, and that there has been a shift from a time when no politician in power was probed into, to a situation where all politicians are accused, prosecuted and indicted, and their careers are ruined by trials. Dragnea also said that Romania will find a fair, legal way to tackle corruption. AP mentions that Liviu Dragnea could not become a PM after his party won the election because he had been convicted for vote rigging, and that he is currently facing 2 other charges, namely embezzling European funds and official misconduct. The American news agency also mentions that the attempts by the ruling coalition to amend the countrys criminal laws triggered massive protests at home and criticism abroad. In the interview, Liviu Dragnea also said his party supports the EU concept, but that both Romania, and other Eastern European member states are concerned and preoccupied about a “two-speed Europe that leaves poorer nations behind while the wealthier ones benefit.



    LEGISLATION – The President of Romania Klaus Iohannis Friday notified the Constitutional Court of Romania on a change in the law regulating the operation of the Higher Council of Magistracy, the Presidential Administration announced. The President criticised the separation of the Councils powers by departments. Early this month the President decided to send back to the Constitutional Court the 3 justice laws, on the status of judges and prosecutors, on the organisation of courts and on the Higher Council of Magistracy, after they had been rushed through Parliament in the form drafted by the ruling coalition made up of the Social Democratic Party and the Alliance of Democrats and Liberals. Iohannis also announced he would send the bills to the Venice Commission for review.



    MILITARY – The opening ceremony for the multi-national exercise Resolute Castle 2018 took place on Friday at the military firing range in Cincu, central Romania. This is a six-month exercise involving troops of the Romanian Land Forces and the South Carolina National Guard. Until September, the Romanian and American military will conduct infrastructure works and arrange the training platforms at the Cincu range. Resolute Castle 2018 is an exercise focusing on the construction and strengthening of training centres in Poland and Romania. This enables US military units to rapidly deploy troops, to rotate troops with allies and multi-national partners and to prove their deterrence capacity in a complete security environment.



    ART – Works put at some 10 million euros, from important private collections, from the Pompidou Museum in Paris as well as from the collection of the former communist dictator Nicolae Ceauşescu are on display, as of today until May 20th, in Art Safari, the largest art event in Romania, hosted by a central Bucharest square. The most valuable piece on display is a Brancusi from a private collection and estimated at “a seven-digit number as the director of Art Safari Bucharest, Ioana Ciocan has put it. The Art Safari exhibition has reached its 5th edition this year.



    ECONOMY – The GDP of the European Union amounted to 15,300 billion euros in 2017, according to data made public on Friday by Eurostat. Romanias GDP was nearly 188 billion euros, accounting for 1.2% of the GDP of the bloc, and ranking as the 16th economy in the EU. According to Eurostat, Romanias GDP was slightly higher than Greeces 178 billion euros, but below the GDP of the Czech Republic, 192 billion euros. More than half of the GDP of the EU was generated in 2017 by just 3 countries: Germany, the UK and France. With nearly 3,300 billion euros last year, Germany strengthened its position as the top economy of the Union, accounting for 21% of the Unions GDP. At the opposite pole, 11 EU member states produced less than 1% of the blocs GDP: Malta, Cyprus, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovenia, Croatia, Bulgaria, Luxembourg, Slovakia and Hungary.



    REP OF MOLDOVA – Over 100 mayors gathered in Chishinau on Friday to attend the third meeting of the Congress of Local Authorities from Romania and the Republic of Moldova (a former Soviet country with a Romanian speaking population). During the meeting, the mayors unanimously endorsed an appeal-declaration calling on the central authorities in Romania and the Republic of Moldova to go ahead with the local decentralization process, to organize every year a joint session of the Romanian and Moldovan Governments, and to harmonies the legislation of the two countries. In 2017, some 100 towns and communes in the Republic of Moldova signed twinning agreements with similar localities in Romania. An overall number of over 500 localities from the two countries have joined the twinning program. (Translated by D. Vijeu and AM Popescu)

  • February 22, 2017 UPDATE

    February 22, 2017 UPDATE

    RESHUFFLE – The National Executive Committee of the ruling Social Democratic Party in Romania has approved the nomination of four new ministers. In this line, Mihai Tudose will return at the helm of the Economy Ministry and Alexandru Petrescu, who is currently economy minister will take over the SMEs portfolio. Rovana Plumb, a former labour minister, will take over the European Funds portfolio and Tudorel Toader, a former Constitutional Court judge will become justice minister. Tudose and Plumb were ministers in the cabinet led by former PM Victor Ponta. The government is being reshuffled against the backdrop of a political crisis generated by the Governments attempt, just a month after taking office, to amend the criminal codes and initiate a collective pardon, by issuing an emergency decree. In the wake of big rallies in the street, actually the largest protest movements since the 1989 Anti-Communist Revolution, the Government finally withdrew the emergency decrees, and their author, the Social Democratic justice minister Florin Iordache, stepped down.



    FIGHT AGAINST
    CORRUPTION     – Romanian PM Sorin Grindeanu says he will send clarifications to
    Brussels on all necessary aspects and try to dissipate the fears of the
    European officials, after the European Commission issued the 2017 European Semester: Country Report – Romania, in which the government is criticized for weakening the
    fight against corruption. Grindeanu also said that by the end of the week, he
    will also send to the EC a series of questions regarding the CVM Report, for
    the government to choose the right path and the adequate speed, to see the
    elimination of the Mechanism on justice as soon as possible. The report issued
    by the Commission says the emergency decree no.13 has put in jeopardy the fight
    against corruption in Romania. According to the EC, such initiatives threaten
    the progress made in the past ten years. Furthermore, corruption persists at
    all levels, and is an obstacle for doing business.


    ENVIRONMENT – The Romanian authorities are considering an alternative to the environmental stamp duty which was scrapped on February 1 alongside another 101 fees and duties, according to Environment Minister Daniel Constantin. He explained that the new system that will replace the environmental stamp duty would not entail further taxes for citizens but would be aimed at reducing the number of polluting cars. At present, Bucharest, Brasov and Iasi are under the infringement procedure because of the air quality.



    SAFETY AND SECURITY – The Romanian interior minister, Carmen Dan, said on Wednesday the Romanian Police reached the objectives set for 2016, a fact confirmed by the higher safety degree registered in Romania. Attending a meeting during which the General Inspectorate of the Romanian Police presented its 2016 activity report, Carmen Dan said that in 2017 special emphasis will be laid on enhancing the policemans authority and improving law enforcement responses. Last year, the police forces intervened to solve over 730,000 cases, reported by people who dialled the 112 emergency number. Figures show the rate of street crime was the lowest in the past 11 years, the 2016 police activity report shows. (Translated by D. Vijeu)

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

    Green-light to the referendum on the fight against corruption

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



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



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



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



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



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

  • European Commission Support for Romania

    European Commission Support for Romania

    On Monday the Romanian Foreign Minister, Teodor Meleşcanu, participated, in Brussels, in the EU Foreign Affairs Council meeting. On the sidelines of this meeting Minister Meleşcanu tried to explain the situation in Bucharest and the EU officials responded promptly. The European Commission believes that Romania needs to make progress in the anti-corruption fight and not to cancel the results obtained so far, the First Vice-President of the European Commission, Frans Timmermans told Meleşcanu against the backdrop of the acute tension caused by the attempt of the Government made up of the Social Democratic Party and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats to amend the Criminal and Criminal Procedure Codes through an emergency government decree.



    Initiated under the pretext that the current Codes should be harmonized with the Constitutional Court rulings but perceived as a way to shield top politicians and officials from the central and local administration from being prosecuted for corruption, the decree, which was eventually withdrawn, prompted hundreds of thousands of angry Romanians to take to the streets and caused consternation in Brussels. Following his meeting with Frans Timmermans and the European foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, minister Meleşcanu told Radio Romania:



    “There are two conclusions drawn after these talks. Firstly, the European officials expressed appreciation for the government’s decision to repeal the decree that sparked the protests. The European officials both agreed that such amendments should be transparent and discussed in a larger context, prior to reaching Parliament. Secondly, the European Commission showed availability to support Romania in finding the best solutions to keep Romania on the path of democracy”.



    Minister Meleşcanu also said that the European Commission was willing to help Romania build new prisons. When asked whether the European officials were concerned with Romania’s vulnerability in the aftermath of the political crisis, minister Meleşcanu answered:



    “On the contrary, they had a positive approach, and showed availability to cooperate with Romania so that it should consolidate its present status, which is important not only for our region but also for the EU as a whole.”



    The spokesperson for the European Commission, Margaritis Schinas, pointed out that Brussels was ready to provide Romania with expertise in order to finalize the targets included in the Mechanism for Cooperation and Verification in the field of the judiciary. The mechanism was set up upon Romania’s joining the EU and it has been maintained all these years because the Romanian officials did not seem to persuade the EU of their official commitment to combating corruption.


    (Translated by L. Simion)

  • November 16, 2016 UPDATE

    November 16, 2016 UPDATE

    ARREST — The former head of the Permanent Electoral Authority in Romania, Ana Maria Patru, on Wednesday was taken into custody, pending trial, in a file in which she is accused of influence peddling and money laundering. According to the anti-corruption prosecutors, she allegedly demanded and received over 200,000 euros in bribe, in exchange for implementing IT procurement contracts with a particular company, and tried to conceal the source of the money by setting up a fictitious circuit. Ana Maria Patru announced her resignation as head of the Permanent Electoral Authority.



    VERDICT — The ex-MEP Adrian Severin on Wednesday was sentenced to four-year imprisonment, in a final ruling issued by the High Court of Cassation and Justice in Bucharest. Anti-corruption prosecutors requested penalties of 6 and a half years for bribe taking and 5 years for influence peddling. Adrian Severin was accused of having accepted the 100,000 euros per year promised by two journalists from “The Sunday Times”, who were running an undercover investigation, in exchange for submitting amendments in the specialised committees of the European Parliament. Two other MEPs, from Slovenia and Austria, also accepted to sell their services to The Sunday Times journalists. Unlike Adrian Severin, they resigned following this corruption scandal.



    ECONOMY – In Romania, the hard-won macroeconomic balance must be preserved, the governor of the National Bank of Romania Mugur Isarescu warned once again. The central bank official says that in spite of Romania’s economic growth, encouraging demand and consumption has created jobs in other countries rather than in Romania, given that the demand has been primarily met by imports, which are going up at a much faster rate than exports. Financial-banking analysts estimate that Romania needs a 5% annual growth rate for a long period if it is to recover its development delays compared to Western Europe.



    DIPLOMACY — US acting president, Democrat Barack Obama, on Wednesday reiterated the United States’ commitments to its European allies, amidst fears that his successor, right-wing populist Donald Trump, is a threat to democracy, international news agencies report. In a speech delivered in Athens, President Barack Obama said he and President-elect Donald Trump “could not be more different” but he added that American democracy is bigger than any one person. He also said that now, more than ever, the world needs a democratic Europe. In the following days, Obama will meet German chancellor Angela Merkel, French president, Francois Hollande, and the Prime Ministers of Great Britain and Italy, Theresa May and Matteo Renzi, respectively. Afterwards, Obama will travel to Peru, to attend the Asia-Pacific Cooperation Summit. His successor at the White House, Donald Trump, will take over his mandate on January 20, 2017.



    INVESTIGATION — Romania’s technocratic PM, Dacian Ciolos, on Wednesday sacked state secretary Adrian Sanda, the head of the Secretariat for recognising the merits of the fighters against the communist regime, in the 1945-1989 period. Also on Wednesday, prosecutors and police conducted more than 20 house searches in several counties in Romania, in a case concerning the status of fighter with a determining role in the 1989 Revolution. The investigation is conducted by the Prosecutor’s Office attached to the High Court of Cassation and Justice, and targets offences like aggravated abuse of office, influence peddling, and forgery of private documents. According to official statistics, in the December 1989 anti-communist revolution, 1,100 people died and over 3,000 were wounded.



    SURVEY – 29% of the Romanian household owners choose to give bribe in order to have easier access to public services, this being the highest percentage registered in the whole of the EU, a report issued by Transparency International shows. According to the survey, young people in Romania are mainly requesting a social organisation of the public and business environments, so that access to services and careers no longer be conditioned by the existence of a mechanism of relations. In another move, the report also underlines that public institutions and private companies do not generate a real integrity environment. Civil society in Romania should move on to a new type of approach, in order to enjoy the support of the public at large in the fight against corruption, the report also shows.



    BOOK FAIR — Bucharest is hosting until Sunday the 23rd Gaudeamus International Book and Education Fair, the longest-lived and most dynamic book fair in Romania, organised by Radio Romania. The highlights of this year’s fair include events devoted to the Romanian film industry, attended by the directors Cristian Mungiu and Radu Jude, and some of the most recent international releases launched in their Romanian version. This year’s guest of honour is China. During its 96 editions in various Romanian cities in 20 years of existence, the fair has brought together more than 2,600,000 visitors and some 10,500 special events. (Translated by D. Vijeu)



  • September 8, 2016 UPDATE

    September 8, 2016 UPDATE

    THE STATE OF THE ECONOMY– Romanias technocratic Prime Minister, Dacian Ciolos, will go to Parliament to present the economic situation of the country, the government spokesperson, Liviu Iolu announced on Thursday. The spokesman said the Prime Minister is thus answering the request made on Thursday, too, in an open letter, by the president of the leftist Social Democratic Party, Liviu Dragnea. The Social Democrats leader claims, among others, it is high time the cabinet presented its official stand on such measures as establishing a ceiling for child rearing benefits and increasing taxes on incomes from independent activities.



    ANTI-CORRUPTION – Romanias president Klaus Iohannis on Thursday approved a request by the National Anti-corruption Directorate to start prosecuting former interior minister Petre Toba. The latter is suspected of aiding some of his staff accused of embezzlement. As a result of the scandal, Toba resigned and was replaced by Dragos Tudorache. The priorities of the new minister include the good organisation of the parliamentary elections on December 11.



    DIPLOMACY – Romanian foreign minister, Lazar Comanescu, on Thursday met in Bucharest with Turkish deputy prime minister, Veysi Kaynak. On this occasion, Comanescu reiterated Romanias openness towards boosting bilateral ties, particularly trade relations. In another move, the Romanian foreign minister reiterated Romanias interest in maintaining stability in Turkey, a NATO member and a key partner of the EU. Comanescu also gave assurances that Romania would like Turkey to join the EU. According to the Romanian Foreign Ministry, the visit by the Turkish deputy prime minister is proof of the dynamic and fast pace of the political dialogue between the two countries.



    ROMANIAN-UKRAINIAN RELATIONS – Romania is one of the most important supporters of Ukraines independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity, said the Ukrainian charge daffaires in Bucharest, Teofil Rendiuk at a reception to celebrate Ukraines National Day. Rendiuk also said Romania may become Ukraines new strategic partner and that the two countries have an excellent dialogue adapted to the current geopolitical and geostrategic situation. Bucharest was a firm critic of Russias annexation of the Crimean peninsula and voiced its support for Ukraines sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity within this countrys internationally recognised borders.



    REP. OF MOLDOVA – Nicolae Timofti, the president of the ex-Soviet Republic of Moldova, with a majority Romanian-speaking population, has refused to travel to the meeting of heads of state of the Commonwealth of Independent States to be held next week in the capital of Kyrgyzstan. The Moldovan delegation may thus be headed by Prime Minister Pavel Filip. Moldovas pro-western president Nicolae Timofti, who is nearing the end of his term in office, did not attend the summit last year, either, following a tough exchange with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in 2014 most likely over Moldovas signing the association agreement with the European Union and Russias embargo as a result.



    CHRISTIAN HOLY DAY – Christians across the world, including the majority Orthodox Romania, on Thursday celebrated the Feast of the Nativity of Mary, which is known as Little Mary in the traditional calendar. According to Christian tradition, Mary, the mother of Jesus, was born through a miracle. She is believed to be the greatest of all saints and is dedicated four days in the Christian calendar: Nativity, Entry into the Temple, Annunciation and Assumption. Around 2.2 million people are named after Mary in Romania.



    SAILING – An international regatta of large sailboats began on Thursday in the Romanian port of Constanta. 13 sailboats from five different countries will be docked for four days in the passenger harbour, where they can be visited free of charge. Romania is represented in the race by the Mircea training ship and the countrys largest civilian sailboat, Adornate. Romanian navy personnel will take part in various sports competitions and a crew parade on Friday. (Translated by D. Vijeu)


  • New corruption cases in the spotlight in Bucharest

    New corruption cases in the spotlight in Bucharest

    The countrys local administration has been decimated by corruption scandals, with almost half of the number of local officials having problems with the law. In 2015 alone, 14 town mayors, 9 county council presidents and one prefect were indicted. Bucharest has six sectors and three of their mayors are currently under investigation for corruption, having already been detained and released from temporary custody, including the Liberal Sector 1 mayor Andrei Chiliman, the Progressive Sector 4 mayor Cristian Popescu Piedone and the Social Democrat Sector 5 mayor Marian Vanghelie.



    Bucharests general mayor himself, Sorin Oprescu, who ran as an independent but is close to the Social Democratic Party, faces trial for corruption, having also been temporarily detained. What sets Neculai Ontanu apart is his longevity on the political scene and his long career as a mayor. First elected in 2000, he has already served four terms and was leading in opinion polls ahead of the upcoming elections on the 5th of June. Moreover, Ontanu has become the interim president of the third biggest party in Parliament, the National Union for the Progress of Romania, whose founding leader and the countrys former deputy prime minister and interior minister Gabriel Oprea is also facing corruption charges.



    Ontanu is accused of receiving 1,500 sq. meters of land in Bucharest as bribe in the 2006-2007 period. Commentators in Bucharest say Ontanus detention by prosecutors will lead to his exit from the election race and speed up his partys disintegration. The partys MPs are, in fact, already defecting to other parliamentary parties in the run-up to the legislative elections in autumn. Just like the local administration, the next Parliament will also look significantly different, given that tens of MPs have been charged for acts of corruption.



    The latest MP to find himself in this situation is Sebastian Ghita, who is close to the former Social Democrat Prime Minister Victor Ponta and who was accused on Wednesday of blackmail and of wrongfully using confidential information.

  • The Week in Review: October 25-31

    The Week in Review: October 25-31

    The “vote by mail law has been adopted


    Romanian citizens domiciled abroad will be able to vote by mail, but only in the parliamentary elections due next year. The Chamber of Deputies with the Romanian Parliament on Wednesday passed a law on this issue. The measure was extremely necessary, after thousands of Romanians in the Diaspora queued up at polling stations for hours to vote in last years presidential election, with some of them finding it impossible to cast their votes, because of the improper organization of the ballot. The ruling Social-Democrats say the law voted on Wednesday is a pilot project, which might be extended to the presidential and European elections, if everything goes well at the parliamentary elections next autumn.



    The president of the Social Democratic Party, Liviu Dragnea explains: “As there are slightly different procedures and a more comprehensive analysis of the two rounds of the ballot is needed, in terms of logistics and infrastructure, decision makers didnt want to have another reason to postpone the adoption of this law again. All those who doubted that the same provisions will apply to the presidential elections, will be proven wrong or to intentionally try to cast a shadow over what we have all achieved here.



    The National Liberal Party, in opposition, voted for the law, in the hope that it will be extended, after the 2016 parliamentary elections.



    Liberal MP Mihai Voicu: “We have taken a step forward by adopting the vote by mail system for parliamentary elections, but we have to do more. This is all that could be achieved given the current parliamentary majority. Hopefully, another parliamentary majority, formed after the 2016 elections, will extend this law.




    The fight against corruption continues


    Gheorghe Nichita, the suspended mayor of Iasi, the largest city in eastern Romania, and Tiberiu Urdareanu, the CEO of a significant group of firms, UTI, were taken into custody on Thursday evening, for taking and giving bribe, respectively. According to the National Anticorruption Directorate, Gheorghe Nichita allegedly claimed and received undue benefits in exchange for granting a EU funded contract worth some 12 million euros to the UTI group. The contract was meant to ease road and pedestrian traffic and reduce the level of pollution in Iasi.



    In another move, MP and former development minister Elena Udrea, who has just been released from arrest and is now subject to legal restrictions pending trial, is again investigated by anticorruption prosecutors as part of a different case. Udrea is accused that, during her tenure as a minister, she received a 4 million US dollar bribe from a businessman to help him earn a contract. Elena Udreas colleagues in Parliament this week approved the start of a criminal investigation against her and her being taken into custody, but they rejected a request for her pre-trial arrest.




    New economic measures


    The government approved on Tuesday several amendments to the Fiscal Code, among which the reduction of the VAT for water to 9%; changing the tax bracket for micro-enterprises; exempting higher secondary education institutions from paying profit tax; and reducing tax on dividends from 16% to 5%. The Romanian business environment has welcomed the introduction of this last measure, which will take effect as of January 1st 2016 and will apply to dividends obtained by Romanian natural persons and legal bodies, as well as to the dividends obtained in Romania by non-residents.



    Also this week, the government approved a new package of laws on public procurement that incorporates the latest European norms in the field and is designed to improve infrastructure. The package will be sent to Parliament to be debated and voted on as part of an emergency procedure. The economic policy analyst with the European Commission Representation in Bucharest, Carmen Marcus, has quoted Romanian and foreign experts as saying that Romania has never had a better macro-economic situation, following financial assistance programs with its international creditors. Also, Romania ranks 37th out of 189 countries in a World Bank business classification, going up 11 positions and overtaking such countries as Italy, Hungary, Russia, Croatia and Greece.




    The Republic of Moldova has no government


    Romanias president, Klaus Iohannis, took note of the collapse of pro-western three-party government of the Republic of Moldova on Thursday and underlined that a stable government should be formed for Moldova to be able to stay on its European course.



    According to president Iohannis, Romania reiterates its commitment to provide full support to neighbouring Moldova in this respect. Romanian foreign minister Bogdan Aurescu shares this view: It is extremely important for the whole responsible political class in Chishinau, particularly the pro-European parties that have been voted for this very purpose by the citizens of the Republic of Moldova in November 2014, a vote which was reconfirmed by the pro-European choice in the local elections held in June, to understand that Moldova needs stability, a pro-European coalition and European reforms.



    The Moldovan cabinet led by Liberal-Democrat Valeriu Strelet has been dissolved by Parliament following a censure motion initiated by the Socialist and pro-Russian communist opposition. Voting for the motion, which involved a vote of confidence in Parliament, were also the members of the Democratic Party, who are part of the ruling coalition, who, just like the initiators of the motion, accuse Valeriu Strelet of incompetence and corruption. The latter said that, by initiating the motion, the left tries to destabilise the republic and deviate it from its target, namely European integration.

  • The fight against corruption

    The fight against corruption

    Although accused in the past of inertia and bias for the benefit of politicians and business people, the Romanian judiciary has been very active recently. Not a day goes by that the media does not report on another action against corruption, a scourge of present-day society, as repeatedly stressed in Brussels.



    Dan Adamescu, the second richest man in Romania with an estimated wealth of 1 billion euros, has come under scrutiny from both prosecutors and the media. His name appears in cases involving four judges who have been taken in temporary custody this week for taking 5,000 to 15,000 euros in bribes. Adamescu is now being prosecuted for bribing the judges in exchange for a rule in his favour. As intermediaries, he used his own son, Bogdan, and a young lawyer, George Dumitru, who killed himself early this week, by throwing himself in front of an incoming train at a Bucharest metro station, right after he was heard by the National Anticorruption Directorate and presented by prosecutors with a bank statement showing the exact amount he had received to bribe the judges.



    Physicians too are these days being heard by prosecutors. After a case in which some physicians working for a public hospital in Bucharest were accused of performing illegal plastic surgery, both public and legal attention is now focused on nine people arrested for involvement in a case of prescriptions fraud. Three doctors from a renowned oncology hospital, two pharmacy owners and four representatives of pharmaceutical companies have been taken in temporary custody for 30 days, accused of having drawn up over one thousand forged prescriptions for people suffering from cancer, but who have never benefited from the prescribed treatment. The drugs thus prescribed were fraudulently discounted from the Insurance House. The damage stands at over 8 million lei, the equivalent of some 1.8 million euros.



    The Romanian government has hailed the efforts made to fight corruption in the justice and healthcare systems, all the more so as the latter is faced with serious financial problems and lack of funding. Also, a study shows that the number of the acts of corruption reported by citizens in relation to the Interior Ministry staff has also increased considerably.

  • The fight against corruption

    The fight against corruption

    Although accused in the past of inertia and bias for the benefit of politicians and business people, the Romanian judiciary has been very active recently. Not a day goes by that the media does not report on another action against corruption, a scourge of present-day society, as repeatedly stressed in Brussels.



    Dan Adamescu, the second richest man in Romania with an estimated wealth of 1 billion euros, has come under scrutiny from both prosecutors and the media. His name appears in cases involving four judges who have been taken in temporary custody this week for taking 5,000 to 15,000 euros in bribes. Adamescu is now being prosecuted for bribing the judges in exchange for a rule in his favour. As intermediaries, he used his own son, Bogdan, and a young lawyer, George Dumitru, who killed himself early this week, by throwing himself in front of an incoming train at a Bucharest metro station, right after he was heard by the National Anticorruption Directorate and presented by prosecutors with a bank statement showing the exact amount he had received to bribe the judges.



    Physicians too are these days being heard by prosecutors. After a case in which some physicians working for a public hospital in Bucharest were accused of performing illegal plastic surgery, both public and legal attention is now focused on nine people arrested for involvement in a case of prescriptions fraud. Three doctors from a renowned oncology hospital, two pharmacy owners and four representatives of pharmaceutical companies have been taken in temporary custody for 30 days, accused of having drawn up over one thousand forged prescriptions for people suffering from cancer, but who have never benefited from the prescribed treatment. The drugs thus prescribed were fraudulently discounted from the Insurance House. The damage stands at over 8 million lei, the equivalent of some 1.8 million euros.



    The Romanian government has hailed the efforts made to fight corruption in the justice and healthcare systems, all the more so as the latter is faced with serious financial problems and lack of funding. Also, a study shows that the number of the acts of corruption reported by citizens in relation to the Interior Ministry staff has also increased considerably.