Radio România Internațional

Tag: Ilie Bolojan

  • February 11, 2025 UPDATE

    February 11, 2025 UPDATE

    RESIGNATION Romania’s outgoing president Klaus Iohannis is ending his mandate and Senate Speaker Ilie Bolojan will be taking over as interim president. Klaus Iohannis stepped down on Monday after a suspension procedure had been initiated against him in Parliament. On Tuesday the Constitutional Court took note of President Klaus Iohannis’ resignation and ruled that Senate Speaker Ilie Bolojan take over as interim president starting February 12. Bolojan had stepped down as president of the National Liberal Party (PNL). Klaus Iohannis served as president in two mandates and his last one was supposed to end in December 2024. However, the Constitutional Court ruled to cancel the first round of election in December due to interferences in the election process. Romania will have presidential election in two rounds, on May 4 and 18.

    TRADE The EU Polish presidency summoned the member states on Wednesday for talks over the effects and the response of the community bloc to the US decision to levy higher import taxes on all steel and aluminum entering the USA. According to our correspondent in Brussels, the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen says the US decision will trigger a similar response from the EU. To similar decisions by president Trump in his first mandate, the EU responded by imposing taxes on a series of US products. The US taxes could trigger an inflow of steel and aluminum imports from the global market, and the oversupply could seriously affect the local producers, including from Romania.

    REAL ESTATE As of Tuesday ruling coalition MPs are holding public consultations in order to regulate protection measures addressing people who conclude sale-purchase deeds with real estate developers. Representatives of real estate developers, public notaries and the National Agency for Land Registry and Real Estate Advertising are also expected to take part. The goal is to complete the legal framework with regulations that will offer the end beneficiaries robust guarantees for the advances paid in real estate transactions and that will also ensure the development and proper functioning of the relevant market in Romania. The initiative comes after hundreds of people who got scammed in the Nordis case called for amending the relevant legislation. Former PSD deputy Laura Vicol, her husband, Vladimir Ciorbă, the main shareholder of the Nordis group, and three other people were put on pre-trial arrest as part of this investigation. The inquiry targets individuals and companies accused of having collected over 195 million EUROS from clients without handing over the apartments.

    112 The buildings of over 100 public and private institutions in Romania were lit in red on Tuesday, marking the European 112 Day. By means of a symbolic visual approach, the Special Telecommunications Service wants to draw attention to the instrumental role of the single emergency number and to encourage citizens to use it responsibly. Abusive emergency calls can jeopardize the swift intervention of specialized teams where it is needed the most, Service officials say. In 2024, as a result of the efforts of the relevant authorities and emergency response services, as well as other government partners and private telecommunications operators, the number of non-emergency calls decreased by nearly one million compared to previous years. 112 Emergency Service operators took over 9.7 million calls, of which 60.45% were actual emergencies, the Special Telecommunications Service also reports.

    (bill)

     

  • February 10, 2025 UPDATE 3

    February 10, 2025 UPDATE 3

    A roundup of local and international news.

     

    BUCHAREST – Romania’s President Klaus Iohannis resigned on Monday, a day before an impeachment vote in Parliament, demanded by the opposition parties. Iohannis said that the resignation would take effect on February 12 and that he made the decision to step down in a bid to limit the fallout of what he believed would have been a divisive and damaging vote for the nation. At the same time, externally, none of the country’s allies would have understood why Romania was impeaching its president, after, in fact,  the procedure for electing a new president had already started, Iohannis also said. His second term expired on December 21, 2024, but was extended by the Constitutional Court with the annulment of the first round of the presidential elections in November. In keeping with the law, Senate speaker and Liberal leader Ilie Bolojan will assume the role of interim president on Wednesday, until the new president is elected. The interim president of Romania can promulgate laws, request their reexamination by the Constitutional Court, appoint and dismiss ministers and serve as supreme commander of the Armed Forces. However, he cannot dissolve Parliament, initiate a referendum and appoint another prime minister.

     

    REACTIONS – The opposition parties in the Bucharest Parliament, which had initiated the procedure to impeach outgoing President Klaus Iohannis, welcomed the latter’s decision to resign. MP Dan Tanasa, with the Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR) said that Iohannis was in office illegally and that the Romanians no longer wanted him. Also from the opposition, the head of the Save Romania Union (USR), Elena Lasconi, said that the president’s resignation does not offer answers regarding the annulment of last year’s election and that, thorough changes are further needed in the relation between citizens and the state institutions. Representing the governing coalition, the Liberal mayor of Cluj-Napoca, Emil Boc, said that resignation is preferable to impeachment, which would have complicated both the domestic political scene and Romania’s credibility abroad. The Social Democratic mayor of Craiova, Olguţa Vasilescu, pointed out that, as regards the presidential elections, the ruling coalition’s candidate continues to be the former Liberal leader Crin Antonescu. The latter said that Klaus Iohannis’ resignation was a wise decision as it pre-empted the impeachment bid and a referendum. Senate speaker Ilie Bolojan, head of the Liberal Party, a member of the ruling coalition, will take over as interim president with limited powers until the election.

     

    INVESTIGATION – Five people were taken in for questioning following the 15 house searches that Romanian police carried out on Monday in Ilfov, Prahova, Buzau and Arges counties, in the case of the conflict in Urziceni, not far from the capital Bucharest, in which two people died. Also, after a series of searches carried out Monday in Brasov county, another nine people were taken to the police station for questioning. Interior Minister Catalin Predoiu signaled the fact that the involvement of several state structures was needed to combat organized crime and dismantle crime groups. He said that although hundreds of organized crime groups have been dismantled in recent years, they are regenerating, and solving this problem may take years. We remind you that, at the end of last week, two people died and five were injured, following a shooting incident involving over 25 people, members of two families in Urziceni and Prahova.

     

    ECONOMY – An International Monetary Fund delegation concluded its discussions in Bucharest with the main institutions in charge of Romania’s monetary and fiscal policies. It was not an assessment mission, but only a fact-finding one, and PM Marcel Ciolacu assured the IMF experts of the government’s determination to comply with the budget deficit target of 7% of the GDP and to implement the reforms undertaken in the National Recovery and Resilience Plan. The IMF made public its latest forecasts regarding the Romanian economy last autumn, when it estimated a 7% deficit for the end of 2025, the same as predicted by the government. However, the IMF’s estimates are more optimistic both as regards the economic growth rate and the inflation. In turn, World Bank officials welcomed the government’s reform plan and the attention paid to investments, noting that Romania is a strong and resilient partner.

     

    SUPERMARKETS –  PM Marcel Ciolacu said legislation should be introduced so that all products in major stores should have the same mark-ups. One day ahead of a boycott on supermarkets announced for Monday by the supporters of the former presidential candidate Călin Georgescu, PM Ciolacu presented, in an online post, the Romanian products he had bought. Roughly 800,000 Romanians work in the over 4,500 large stores in the country, and the taxes paid by such chains account for 13% of the revenues to the state budget. Moreover, according to data from the agriculture ministry, 70% of the products in retail stores in Romania are made in Romania. Early this month, customers in several Balkan countries joined a large-scale boycott on supermarkets, amid rising food prices. The protests that started in Croatia have spread to Bosnia, Montenegro and Serbia.

     

    KOSOVO – Kosovo’s left-wing nationalist PM Albin Kurti claimed victory in Sunday’s parliamentary elections, saying he was optimistic about forming a new government. Unlike in the previous term, however, his party will not be able to form a parliamentary majority on its own. Kurti and other Kosovo party leaders have made it clear that they have no intention of working together, making it unclear how a ruling coalition could be formed in Pristina.

     

     

     

  • January 5, 2025 UPDATE

    January 5, 2025 UPDATE

    BUDGET – The government seeks to set the final details for the draft budget for 2025 by the end of the month, so that the new Parliament may debate and vote on the law in a special sitting. The government relies on a budget deficit of 7% of the GDP, as per a deal with the European Commission, without taking additional fiscal measures. The authorities need to slash public spending and carry out reforms stipulated in the Recovery and Resilience Plan. The government wants to freeze salaries in the public sector as well as child-rearing allowances. Party funding will also be cut by 25% compared to the previous year. A hiring freeze will be introduced in the public sector, while certain institutions will undergo a restructuring process. The tax on dividends is expected to go up from 8% to 10%, while a new tax on special constructions will be introduced. Pensions too will see no increase this year, with the reference point expected to stagnate at 16 EUR. The authorities also seek to cut overspending by 1% of the GDP, tantamount to some 19 bln EUR, but also to boost budget revenues by implementing reforms provided in the Recovery and Resilience Plan.

     

    ELECTION – Interim PNL president, Ilie Bolojan, has warned that the presidential election might be postponed for May unless parliamentary parties adopt the election timetable by next week at the latest. The Liberals want the election to take place before Easter. As regards the official designation of former PNL leader Crin Antonescu as the common candidate of the ruling coalition, Bolojan explained the candidacy may be validated by each party once the election timetable is approved. Ilie Bolojan called for consistency and solidarity in supporting a single candidate. In turn, UDMR leader Kelemen Hunor said the date of the presidential election must be set as soon as possible, also arguing in favor of holding the election before Easter. Instead, USR leader Elena Lasconi accused ruling coalition parties of seeking to preserve power and privileges to the detriment of the country’s stability.

     

    AGREEMENT – Former PNL leader, Crin Antonescu, says the ruling coalition agreement for supporting his candidacy in the 2025 presidential election is de facto suspended. Antonescu told a private TV station on Saturday that he won’t withdraw from the race, but that he noticed the four political leaders who nominated him “did not make a powerful enough commitment when signing the agreement”. We recall that on December 23, ruling coalition parties (PSD, PNL, UDMR and the group of national minorities) agreed to support Crin Antonescu’s candidacy in the 2025 presidential election, with the executive bodies of each party being expected to vote the decision. The first round of the presidential election is scheduled for March 23, while the second round will take place on April 6, with the authorities expected to pass a decree on this matter by January 7.

     

    CHRISTMAS – Eastern rite Orthodox Christians are making preparations to celebrate Christmas on January 7, according to the Julian calendar. Armenians in Romania celebrate Christmas on January 6.  Following the Christmas  Eve vigil, groups of young children and men go caroling from house to house, bringing the new of the birth of Jesus  Christ, Rafaela Cazazian, producer on Radio România Constanţa, explains. Guesthouses in the Danube Delta but also in mountain resorts are fully booked on this occasion.

     

    HANDBALL – The Romanian men’s handball team lost to Georgia 34-35 the last match in the Carpați Trophy tournament. Also today, Serbia won 35-30 against Turkey. Romania on Friday grabbed a 35-26 win over Turkey, and drew 31-31 against Serbia, the team that finished in top position.

     

    TENNIS – Five Romanian tennis players will represent Romania in the qualifiers of the Australian Open, the first Grand Slam tournament of the year set to kick off on January 12. Ana Bogdan (114 WTA) will play Destanee Aiava of Australia (194 WTA) in the first round. Anca Todoni (118 WTA) will take on Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva of Andorra (156 WTA). Gabriela Ruse (121 WTA) will play Leonie Kung of Switzerland (221 WTA), while Miriam Bulgaru (213 WTA) will go up against Giorgia Pedone of Italy (193 WTA). In the men’s competition, Filip Cristian Jianu (214 ATP) will play Mitchell Krueger of the USA (147). Three Romanian players, Sorana Cîrstea, Jaqueline Cristian and Irina Begu, are already seeded in the main draw. (VP)

  • Changes on the Romanian political scene

    Changes on the Romanian political scene

    On June 9, the Social-Democratic Party (PSD) and the National Liberal Party (PNL), the biggest political parties and coalition partners, won the European parliamentary election by a landslide, after fielding candidates on a single list. Then, in the local election, both parties fared honorably, with the Social-Democrats securing most of the town halls and county councils. Nothing foretold the electoral disaster sustained by the PSD and PNL candidates in the first round of the presidential election. The Liberal and Social-Democrat presidential candidates have tied their names to two historic failures: the leader of PNL, Nicolae Ciucă, ranked fifth with less than 9%, thus becoming the first Liberal candidate not to obtain a two-digit score, while the leader of PSD, Marcel Ciolacu, seen as favorite to win the first round, came only third, with 19%, becoming the first left-wing candidate not to advance to the presidential runoff. Both owned up to their failure and resigned from the leadership of their parties.

     

    On December 1, in-between the two rounds of the presidential election, the parliamentary election is scheduled, and the main parties must quickly recover from the electoral shock. PSD seeks to regain the trust of Romanians in the parliamentary election and will come up with a new approach for communicating with citizens, said the vice-president of the party and the European Parliament, Victor Negrescu, appointed to deal with political communication until the parliamentary election. A strong representation of Social-Democratic values ​​is needed in the future Parliament, Victor Negrescu said, arguing that PSD will intensify its efforts to better explain their governing program to the Romanian people. “We have good results in terms of governance and, in this respect, we will also come up with a new approach in the way we communicate with citizens, more directly, more openly, we will them what we are able and want to do in a very direct and honest approach”, Negrescu added.

     

    The entire leadership of the Liberal Party resigned, and Ilie Bolojan was appointed interim president. Bolojan is known for his good administrative and economic results in Bihor County (northwest) and in the municipality of Oradea. Ilie Bolojan announced that PNL will support Romania’s pro-European direction and center-right policies, which is why in the second round the party will unequivocally support Elena Lasconi, the leader of the Save Romania Union. We recall that, in the presidential runoff slated for December 8, Elena Lasconi will face the surprising winner of the first round, Călin Georgescu, a figure unanimously considered toxic and dangerous due to his extremist and pro-Russian views. Over the coming period, Bolojan pointed out, the Liberals will present the public policies that PNL will support in Parliament: state efficiency and waste reduction, public policies that allow the development of local communities through decentralization and support programs addressing local officials, policies that support the rule of law, an independent justice system and policies related to equity, meritocracy and rules that generate fair behaviors at society level. (VP)