Radio România Internațional

Tag: Hungarians

  • The Week in Review, May 4-9

    The Week in Review, May 4-9

    Coronavirus in Romania


    Almost 15 thousand people infected and close to one thousand deaths have been reported in Romania since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. President Klaus Iohannis has warned that the situation has not improved and that the pandemic has not passed. However, he said the state of emergency, in force in the country in mid-March, will not be extended after May 15 and will be replaced by a state of alert. In a first stage, hairdressers and barbers shops will be opened, along with dentist practices and museums, and people will be allowed to leave their homes without a sworn statement regarding the purposes of traveling. Wearing protection masks will be mandatory, including on public transport. However, restrictions will not be eased to quarantined localities such as Suceava, Tandarei and two neighbourhoods in Buzau.




    Constitutional Court rejects increases in fines


    The Constitutional Court of Romania admitted the claim filed by the Ombudsman against the emergency government decree that established sanctions for non-compliance with the rules of quarantine and isolation. In other words, the fines were declared unconstitutional. However, the fines will not be automatically annulled but they must be challenged in Court. The Liberal Prime Minister Ludovic Orban reacted to the decision, saying the ruling of the Constitutional Court prevents the Government, the authorities, from protecting the health and lives of the Romanians. In turn, the Finance Minister Florin Citu has said that the role of the large fines was not to bring money to the budget, but to reduce the risk of further spread. Previously, Interior Minister Marcel Vela admitted to situations of abuse by the police when handing out fines during checks on free circulation. Since the state of emergency has been announced, the fines received by the Romanian citizens for not observing restrictions in place stand at around 120 million euros.




    ECHR versus CCR


    The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has ruled in favour of Laura Codruţa Kövesi, head of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office, regarding her dismissal in July 2018 from her position as Chief Prosecutor of the Romanian National Anti-Corruption Directorate. Kovesi took her case to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg arguing that when she was dismissed, in 2018, by a decree of President Klaus Iohannis, following a decision of the Constitutional Court, two of her fundamental rights had been infringed. The ECHR ruled that Kovesi was denied the right to a fair trial, as she could not defend her case in court, and also the right to freedom of expression and that she was unjustly dismissed before the end of her second term. Laura Codruta Kovesi, who is now the first chief prosecutor of the European Union, did not ask for damages in this case, saying the burden would have been put on the shoulders of Romanian taxpayers.




    The crisis after the pandemic


    Romanias economy will go down by 6% this year, according to the EU Spring Economic Forecast. The European Union will be experiencing the deepest recession in its history, the European Commissioner for the Economy, Paolo Gentiloni announced on Wednesday. He added that the European economy will contract by a record 7.4%. According to Gentiloni, Romania is expected to report a budget deficit of at least 8%. Actually, almost all the other EU Member States are expected to report higher deficits because they have to support the economy with liquidities and to protect jobs. In Romania the unemployment rate will reach 6.5 % in 2020 and 5.4% in 2021. As regards the inflation rate, it will reach 2.5% in 2020 and it is going to rise next year.




    Romania supports Moldova


    A convoy of 20 trucks full of medical equipment as part of aid provided by Romania to the neighbouring Republic of Moldova to help it fight the Covid-19 outbreak, reached its destination on Thursday. The convoy was accompanied by an official delegation including the Romanian health minister Nelu Tătaru, the head of the Emergency Situations Department Raed Arafat and the secretary of state for relations with the Republic of Moldova, Ana Guţu. The Government in Bucharest decided to grant Moldova humanitarian aid worth 3.5 million euros in the form of medical equipment and medicines. Romania has also sent a team of 52 doctors and nurses who will be working in hospitals in Moldova treating patients infected with the novel coronavirus.




    Autonomy during pandemic


    Romanias Senate dismissed, by a comfortable majority, a controversial bill regarding the autonomy of the so-called Szekler Land in central Romania, under which this region would have been turned into an autonomous legal entity. The bill was initially passed automatically by the Chamber of Deputies, through a procedure roughly equivalent to what is known as pocket veto, without debates, in the form tabled by the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians. The so-called Szekler Land is a region in central Romania mostly inhabited by ethnic Hungarians, and comprises the counties of Covasna, Harghita and part of Mureș County. The bill defined the borders of the territory that would have become the Szekler Land, which was supposed to have its own administrative organisation, its own institutions, using Hungarian as an official language and the official symbols of the Hungarian nation.


    It was the turn of the Chamber of Deputies to reject a draft Administrative Code that has tacitly passed the Senate. Also initiated by UDMR, it allowed for the use of national minority languages in local administration and public institutions in the localities where minorities represent more than 20% of the population and for the hoisting of the Szekler flag on public institutions. President Klaus Iohannis accused the Social Democratic Party—the largest Opposition party in Romania— who control both Parliament chambers, of complicity with the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians and with Budapest. The PSD leaders dismissed the accusations.


    (Translated by Elena Enache)

  • April 29, 2020

    April 29, 2020

    DRAFT LAW – Romanian President Klaus Iohannis has harshly criticized today the tacit adoption, by the Chamber of Deputies, of a draft law regarding the autonomy of the so-called Szecklers’ land, a region in central Romania hosting the Hungarian community. Iohannis has made it clear that he will not promulgate the law. According to the draft law initiated by the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania, the region should have its own administrative organization, public authorities and institutions and Hungarian should be its official language. The region should include the counties of Covasna, Harghita and a part of Mures. The Legislative Council, the Economic and Social Council and the Government have not green lighted the project. The Senate, which is the decision making body in this case, has been convened today in emergency meeting.




    EU – Romanian Interior Minister Marcel Vela took part on Tuesday in a videoconference of the EU home affairs ministers to discuss the state of play and way forward on the response to Covid-19. The meeting was chaired by Davor Božinović, Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister of Croatia. The ministers discussed applications for contact tracing, given that contact tracing is one of the key measures for controlling the spread of the virus, particularly within the framework of the gradual easing of restrictions on movement. Marcel Vela said it is important to have coordination among the member states as regards the gradual easing of restrictions, depending on the evolution of the disease in each state. Interior ministers also talked about further improvements in transit corridors in order to enable continuous functioning of the single market and free movement of goods. Topics such as the current situation at the internal and external borders, asylum, returns and resettlements and the swift shift in criminal activities were also discussed.




    VETERANS DAY- On the occasion of the Veterans Day celebrated today, Romanian President Klaus Iohannis has conveyed a message hailing their heroic behavior, which should be an example for younger generations and urging them to protect themselves from the coronavirus, by observing the social distancing measures. Veterans Day has been celebrated in Romania since 2008 and marks the day when, in 1902, King Carol I promulgated, at the request of the survivors of the War of Independence (1877-1878), the Decree establishing the “war veteran” title, in keeping with the decisions of the Geneva Convention. Over 900 thousand dead, wounded, prisoners and missing persons were reported after the Second World War. At present there are around 7300 veterans in Romania.




    CORONAVIRUS ROMANIA — Romanian President Klaus Iohannis is today holding a new meeting with the government members on the COVID-19 situation. Health Minister Nelu Tataru said Tuesday evening that Romania is still heading towards the peak of the pandemic but that in the next two weeks the number of new infections is expected to drop. He also said that during the 3-day holiday at the beginning of May the situation must be handled so as the emergence of new hotbeds should be prevented. Over 11,600 infections have been confirmed in Romania so far, 663 people have died and over 3400 have recovered. Around 2000 Romanians abroad have tested positive to COVID-19 of whom 87 have died.




    PANDEMIC — A number of countries have announced they will ease the restrictions imposed due to the pandemic. In France and Greece schools will be opened gradually starting May 11, while in Spain and Italy students will only go to school in autumn. Hotels in Poland will be open to tourists during the summer while Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey plan to open the tourist season on July 1. In the US, where the number of infections exceeded 1 million, the number of victims is bigger than the number of American soldiers killed in two decades during the Vietnam War. The global number of infections exceeded 3.1 million, with over 210 thousand people dead and more than 930 thousand recoveries.




    SURVEY — 70% of Romanians say that economic depression is a greater danger than the coronavirus epidemic, according to a data provided by the Romanian Public Institute for Public Opinion Survey. Most interviewees believe the epidemic will not go away which means that people will live with the fear of catching the virus. 55% of Romanians believe that the government does its job well or very well. Parliament, however, is only appreciated by one third of respondents. No significant collective tendency towards altruism has been reported, with only 27% of respondents saying they believe Romanians have become more selfless this period. The survey was conducted via telephone between April 22 and 25 on 710 people aged over 18 and has an error margin of +/- 3.7%. (Translated by Elena Enache)

  • February 22, 2019 UPDATE

    February 22, 2019 UPDATE

    BUDGET The Constitutional Court of Romania has announced that on March 6th it will discuss the notification filed by President Klaus Iohannis against the 2019 state budget law. On Friday, the head of state notified the Constitutional Court over the state budget bill submitted for his promulgation. He described the bill as unrealistic and over-optimistic, and dismissed it as a national disgrace. There are unconstitutional elements in this law, the President said, such as failure to comply with commitments taken within the EU and violation of fundamental rights. Iohannis lashed out at the Social Democratic Party, the senior partner in the ruling coalition in Romania, which he said is unable to govern the country and only rules to the benefit of its leader, Liviu Dragnea. Klaus Iohannis also said political parties are getting too much money, public education is under-funded, and Romania has been in turmoil, particularly since an ordinance was passed in late 2018 modifying the justice laws. According to the President, the entire ruling term of the Social Democrats has been an assault on the rule of law in Romania. In response, the Senate Speaker, Calin Popescu Tariceanu (ALDE, also in the ruling coalition) said the Presidents sending the budget bill to the Constitutional Court is unwarranted and ill-timed. He added the President is “harassing the Cabinet and trying to prevent its work.




    JUDICIARY In several cities in Romania, magistrates protested on Friday against the changes to the justice laws introduced by a government emergency decree, and called for independence of the judiciary. They also announced they would suspend their work for several days, and said only urgent cases would be tried. The changes operated by the left-of-centre Government concern, among other things, the appointment of senior prosecutors and the powers of the special division investigating offences committed by magistrates. The emergency decree has been criticised both in Brussels, by the European Commission, and in Romania, by magistrate associations, by the prosecutor division of the Higher Council of Magistrates, and by the right-wing Opposition.




    TRADE The World Trade Organisation (WTO) is in a difficult situation at the moment, and swift action is needed for the entity not to fall apart, the EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström said on Friday in Bucharest. In turn, the Romanian Minister for the Business Environment, Ştefan-Radu Oprea, said that promoting free trade under the WTO aegis remains a priority for the EU, and member states have voiced their willingness to start negotiations on e-commerce. He added that, with respect to trade relations between the EU and the USA, stakeholders are trying to maintain a positive bilateral agenda and to adopt as quickly as possible the negotiating directives on conformity assessment and the liberalisation of trade in industrial products. EU trade ministers convened on Friday in Bucharest to discuss the modernisation of the WTO and the trade relations between the European bloc and the US.




    CONGRESS Cluj Napoca (in north-western Romania) is hosting the congress of the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania, the main political party representing the 1.5-million strong Hungarian community in Romania. Attending the event are over 900 delegates, who will elect the new party president. The incumbent leader, Hunor Kelemen, is the only candidate, and is running for a 3rd term in office. Before the congress, Hunor Kelemen told a press conference that in his opinion the main task ahead is for the party to define a general framework for the political decisions to be made in the future. The delegates will also discuss the new economic platform of the organisation and the list of candidates for the European Parliament elections. Another topic on the agenda is the collaboration between the Union, which supports the ruling coalition in Romania, and the other Romanian parties. Represented in Parliament without interruptions since 1990, the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians has been a member of many coalition governments in Romania.



    (translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)

  • January 12, 2018 UPDATE

    January 12, 2018 UPDATE

    TENSIONS The Romanian Foreign Ministry said on Friday that PM Mihai Tudoses statements concerned the responsibilities that central and local authorities in Romania have with respect to the enforcement of the law, and had no anti-Hungarian implications. According to the Ministry, the Prime Ministers statements had to do with the need to comply with constitutional order and the rule of law in Romania, which is a sovereign and indivisible state. Romanias Ambassador to Budapest was invited on Friday to the Hungarian Foreign Ministry, following statements made by PM Tudose concerning the self-proposed autonomy of the Szecklers, an ethnic Hungarian group in Transylvania. As the Romanian official put it, “should the Szeckler colours fly on the public institutions there, everybody will fly with them. Budapest views the statement as unacceptable and unworthy of European values and the values of the 21st Century, said the Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó. Hungarys Foreign Ministry said it was waiting for explanations and excuses from the Government of Romania in this respect. Romanian authorities and political parties see the demands of the Hungarian community and political representatives, who want local autonomy for the regions in Transylvania where most of the ethnic Hungarians live, as coming against the constitution of Romania.




    ANTI-CORRUPTION The head of the National Anti-Corruption Directorate, Laura Codruţa Kövesi, will be subject to a disciplinary procedure conducted by the Prosecutors Division of the Higher Council of Magistrates, after the judicial inspection corps moved against her over professional misconduct. Following transcripts of audio recordings made public in June 2017, Kovesi is accused, among other things, of conduct detrimental to the honour and professional probity of prosecutors and to the image of the judiciary. According to judicial inspectors, she used dismissive and aggressive language with fellow prosecutors, which is unacceptable by the basic ethics code of the magistrate profession. The National Anti-Corruption Directorate headed by Laura Kövesi has been constantly praised in European Commission reports on the Romanian judiciary.




    DEFENCE A contract was signed in Bucharest on Friday for the purchase of 227 Piranha armored fighting vehicles. Under the contract, the first 30 vehicles are to be delivered from Switzerland and the rest will be produced in Romania. The total cost of the purchase stays around 895 million euros. These vehicles offer the highest protection to personnel and can be equipped with various weapons. They are mainly used as personnel carriers but can be adjusted for medevac or other specific missions. The Defence Ministry is to also purchase 173 trucks that will be used as troops carriers or to provide logistics support.




    DIPLOMACY Japans Prime Minister Shinzo Abe Friday left Tokyo on a diplomatic tour to Central and Eastern Europe, which takes him to Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Serbia and Romania. The Japanese official is trying to rally support for Tokyos firm stand against North Korea, France Press reports. This is the first such visit paid by a Japanese Premier to the region. The Japanese official is to be received by president Klaus Iohannis in Bucharest on Tuesday. The agenda of the talks includes the stage and prospects in the process of strengthening the very good relations under the Renewed Partnership between Romania and Japan at political, economic and cultural level as well as in terms of security and human relations, the Romanian presidency has announced. Other issues, such as the cooperation between the EU and Japan, regional developments with an emphasis to the North Korean file, as well as the Romanian-Japanese cooperation, are also to be tackled. This is the first visit to Romania by a Japanese Prime Minister and comes against the background of celebrating five years since the 2013 Renewed Partnership between Romania and Japan.




    TENNIS Romanian tennis player Mihaela Buzarnescu Friday defeated the Ukrainian Lesia Tsurenko 6-2, 6-2 in the semifinals of the WTA tournament in Hobart, Australia with 225,000 dollars in prize money. Mihaela, who on Monday is to join the worlds top 50 players for the first time in her career, will be playing Belgian Elise Mertens (WTA 36) in the finals. Australian Open, the years first Grand Slam tournament is to commence on Monday with the worlds best player, Romanian Simona Halep, as the odds-on favourite. The Romanian will be playing Australian Destanee Aiava in the competitions first round. Besides Halep, the women singles main draw has another five players from Romania: Sorana Cirstea, Irina Begu, Mihaela Buzarnescu, Monica Niculescu and Ana Bogdan. Marius Copil (ATP 93) will be representing Romania in the mens singles.


    (translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)