Radio România Internațional

Tag: Justice Minister

  • Justice Minister wants the Prosecutor General dismissed

    Justice Minister wants the Prosecutor General dismissed

    To his supporters, Justice Minister Tudorel Toader has outstanding merits in putting an end to the abuse and human rights violations supposedly committed in courts and penitentiaries, and further to which Romania has lost countless cases at the European Court for Human Rights.



    To his opponents, however, he is the most efficient instrument used by the ruling coalition, made up of the Social Democratic Party and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats, in its attempt to bring magistrates under political control and to hinder the fight against corruption.



    During Toaders term in office, the chiefs of the main prosecutors offices have been replaced one by one. After the head of the National Anti-Corruption Directorate, on Wednesday it was the Prosecutor Generals turn, as Toader announced he initiated the procedure to remove Augustin Lazar from office.



    In an activity assessment report, the Justice Minister accuses the Prosecutor General of generating constitutional conflicts between public authorities and of making public statements of a political nature, including unprecedented accusations that targeted public authorities, Parliament and the Government. The Prosecutor General failed to meet his stated objectives, challenged the justice laws after the constitutionality checks had been completed, broke the law by signing protocols with the intelligence services, thus paving the way for a parallel judicial system, Tudorel Toader also claims:



    Tudorel Toader: “The facts presented in this report, which are intolerable in a rule-of-law state, prove that Mr. Augustin Lazars managerial activity comes against his constitutional and legal obligations. Under these circumstances, his holding the leading position in the Public Ministry is no longer acceptable.



    In response, Augustin Lazar says the report includes exaggerations and that it is designed to destabilise the Public Ministry. He argues that freedom of expression must be used against any interference that threatens to affect the independence of prosecutors:



    Augustin Lazar: “All the decisions I have made, ever since I took over the Prosecutor General post, have relied on constitutional principles and values. In my capacity as Prosecutor General, I have also exercised my obligation to stand up publicly, to present the views of the institution, in response to many unwarranted attacks against the judicial system.



    The request to remove Augustin Lazar from office has been submitted to the Higher Council of Magistracy for a consultative opinion, and to President Klaus Iohannis, who has the authority to appoint and dismiss chief prosecutors.



    The Social Democrat Florin Iordache, a former justice minister, says the assessment presented by Toader includes enough examples of regulation breaches for Lazar to be dismissed. The right-of-centre opposition, however, believes the procedure to remove the Prosecutor General is just an attack against the independence of the judiciary.


    (translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)

  • The Week in Review 23 – 29 October

    The Week in Review 23 – 29 October

    Proposals for the amendment of the Fiscal Code


    The Romanian government on Thursday analysed, in a first reading, a bill on the amendment of the Fiscal Code, with the finance minister Ionut Misa presenting the main measures planned by the government. He said the income tax is to drop from 16 to 10%, not just in the case of salary incomes, but also in the case of pensions, rents, interest rates and farming activities. Those practising independent activities, such as doctors, lawyers, journalists, notaries, writers and artists, will no longer pay their social security contributions based on the sums obtained from these activities, but based on the minimum wage. Beginning on 1st January 2018, employers are to pay a 2.25% tax following the transfer of the payment of social security contributions to employees. Misa also announced several changes to stimulate the business environment. In the case of 450,000 companies whose turnover is below 1 million euros, a 1% turnover tax will be levied to replace the 16% profit tax charged at the moment. Another measure adopted by the finance ministry refers to the implementation, as of 2018, of the European directive to deter profit shifting by multinational companies. Labour minister Lia Olguta Vasilescu also said the minimum pension would grow to 640 lei and the child-rearing allowance would grow to 1,250 lei. Another planned measure is the reduction of the contribution to the pension funds Pillar 2 from 5.1% to 3.7%.



    The European commissioner for the budget and human resources Gunther Oettinger travels to Bucharest


    The European commissioner for the budget and human resources Gunther Oettinger said on Thursday in Bucharest that there are premises for Romania to meet the 3% deficit target this year and the next. He made this statement after a meeting in Parliament with the members of the joint parliamentary committees for European affairs and the budget, finances and banks. Gunther Oettinger also said Romania played an important role in the talks on the future financial framework of the European Union, given that it will hold the rotating presidency of the Union in the first half of 2019.



    Justice Minister presents proposes changes to the laws on the judiciary


    The Romanian Justice Minister Tudorel Toader on Wednesday presented to the members of the special Parliament committee the bills designed to amend the justice laws. The ruling coalition decided that the new draft would be tabled by their parliamentary group rather than as a government bill.


    Among other things, the controversial bills, on which the Higher Council of Magistrates has already given its negative opinion, narrow the powers of the National Anti-Corruption Directorate, which will no longer be entitled to investigate magistrates. Other changes concern the procedure for appointing high-ranking prosecutors and the establishment of a special unit to investigate offences committed by magistrates. Toader announced he wanted the judicial inspection corps to be an autonomous institution, subordinated neither to the Higher Council of Magistrates nor to the Justice Ministry. He also added that a special law regulating the status of this institution must be endorsed within 6 months. As far as the responsibility of magistrates goes, Minister Tudorel Toader explained that judges would be subject to pecuniary liability for errors made in bad faith.


    The supreme court ordered Parliament to return the bills to the Justice Ministry on grounds that legislative transparency requirements had been breached, and, more importantly, that the texts were against the rules on the drafting and endorsement of laws.


    As of next week, the bills will be discussed in the special parliamentary committee. They will then be referred to the Chamber of Deputies, with the final vote on the matter to be given by the Senate.


    In another development, the Appeal for compensation law has come into force in Romania these days. The act stipulates that for every 30 days served in penitentiaries in improper conditions, convicts have 6 days taken off of their sentence. According to the Justice Minister, thanks to the new law, nearly 530 people have been released, and over 3,300 are eligible for parole. The detainees who have already served their sentences but whose cases are pending with the European Court of Human Rights may receive between 5 and 8 euros in compensations for each day of imprisonment in improper conditions.



    Bucharest host a new edition of the Indagra International Fair


    Romania has huge potential in the agriculture sector, and it should capitalise on it in an intelligent and sustainable manner, so as to become a leader in this sector, said President Klaus Iohannis on Thursday, at the opening of Indagra, the largest agriculture trade fair held in Bucharest. Iohannis also said Romania should get itself out of a vicious circle in which it exports raw materials and implicitly subsidies, and imports high value-added products. The President also noted that in the first half of the year farming and foodstuff imports went up by 17% compared to last year, whereas exports only increased by 4.5%. He mentioned that until 2020, under the Common Agricultural Policy Romania benefits from European funds of up to 20 billion euros.



  • Who Needs an Amnesty and Pardon Law?

    Who Needs an Amnesty and Pardon Law?

    The Romanian Justice Minister Florin Iordache made the law on amnesty and pardons a highlight of his first few weeks in office. He pleads for detailed analysis and thorough public discussion on the bill, the foremost argument in favour of which is that it would help reduce overcrowding in the penitentiary system. The Justice Minister together with the Prosecutor General of Romania, Augustin Lazar, and the head of the Anti-Corruption Directorate, Laura Codruta Kovesi, examined the topic.



    Here is Florin Iordache, with a statement at the end of that meeting: “Frankly put, when there is not enough room in a house, there are only two solutions: you either build a new house, or kick someone out of the old one. So until we have finalised these talks on whether or not such a law is a good option, it would be nonsensical to talk about whether or not to pass legislation in this respect.”



    In turn, the heads of the two judicial institutions were clearly against endorsing a law on amnesty and pardons. Here is Prosecutor General Augustin Lazar: “We are in charge of fighting crime, we have our priorities, such as combating corruption, recovering the proceeds of crime, and so on, which is the very goal of criminal prosecution and is the job that prosecutors are paid for.”



    President Klaus Iohannis is on the same side in this debate. Known for his generally balanced views, the President was rather blunt in his statements on this particular topic, made in the presence of Minister Iordache, at a meeting of the Higher Council of Magistrates last week. Iohannis says this law might threaten democracy itself and he will do everything his position allows, to oppose it. According to the head of state, enacting an amnesty and pardon bill would undermine the rule of law and push Romania away from the European and Euro-Atlantic values.



    He went even further and said: “Such an endeavour, a law on amnesty and pardons, which would not only clear the records of offenders that might be dangerous for other people and for society at large, but would also allow politicians to get away with breaking the law, would be a disaster for Romanian democracy.”



    Many fear that penitentiary overcrowding, a genuine problem in Romania, which is far from meeting the relevant EU standards, is a perfect pretext for setting free influential people, politicians in particular, who were sent behind bars in recent years as a result of a sustained anti-corruption campaign.


    (Translated by Ana maria Popescu)

  • April 20, 2016 UPDATE

    April 20, 2016 UPDATE

    The Romanian community is an example of
    integration and participation in Spain’s social and economic life, the Spanish
    Justice Minister Rafael Catala Polo said in Bucharest on Wednesday during the
    meeting he had with his Romanian counterpart, Raluca Pruna. According to the
    Spanish official one million Romanians is currently living in Spain. He
    described as good the cooperation with the Romanian authorities in the field of
    justice, at the bilateral level and in the relations with the EU. According to
    Rafael Catala Polo the fight against organized crime, corruption as well as the efforts
    aimed at improving the legal system are taking place concurrently in both
    countries, Spain and Romania.






    The first talks held in Brussels on
    Wednesday after a two years break between NATO countries and Russia were
    sincere and serious but failed to solve divergences on several issues such as
    the Ukrainian crisis, NATO secretary general Jens Stoltenberg explained. NATO
    has suspended cooperation with Moscow to protest Russia’s annexation of Crimea
    and the advance of the pro-Russia separatists in eastern Ukraine in the spring
    of 2014. The North-Atlantic Alliance has accused Russia of destabilizing
    Ukraine by funding the separatists.








    The National Liberal Party (PNL), Romania’s main right-wing
    political party, on Wednesday decided to withdraw Marian Munteanu from the race
    for Bucharest’s mayor seat. Munteanu has been replaced with Catalin Predoiu,
    interim president of the PNL’s Bucharest branch. Marian Munteanu, a leader of
    the students’ movement and symbol of the 1990s is the third candidate the PNL
    has so far renounced only a week after being nominated. His nomination
    attracted a lot of heat from civil society; several NGOs called for his
    withdrawal after having described him incompatible with European and Democratic
    values. The first PNL candidate Ludovic Orban withdrew after having been placed
    under investigation for using influence with a view to obtaining undue
    benefits. We recall that Romania will be hosting local elections on June 5th.


    The
    President of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko, will be on an official visit to Romania
    on Thursday. He will have meetings in Bucharest with his Romanian counterpart
    Klaus Iohannis and with PM Dacian Cioloş. In February, the two presidents had a
    meeting on the sidelines of the Munich International Security Conference. The
    talks highlighted the progress made in several bilateral areas and the
    willingness of both sides to make headway in implementing the ongoing joint
    projects. The last high-level meeting took place on March 17, 2015, when Klaus
    Iohannis traveled to Kiev.




    Romania’s former right-wing president, Traian Băsescu, has been charged with a
    continuing offence of money laundering in a case prosecuted by the Office of
    the Prosecutor General. According to judicial sources, the case is related to
    land transactions in the Bucharest area. In 2000, when he was mayor general of
    Bucharest, Traian Băsescu
    purchased a substantially under-priced plot of land, which he subsequently sold
    for a lot more money. The
    ex-president confirmed, on his Facebook account, that he had been notified by
    the Prosecutor General of his being a suspect in a money laundering case. He
    mentioned however that in 2012 the criminal charges against him had been
    dropped. The case was re-opened in 2015.





  • April 18, 2016 UPDATE

    April 18, 2016 UPDATE

    GOVERNMENT – Dragoş Nicolae Pîslaru was sworn in as labour minister in the presence of the Romanian President, Klaus Iohannis. He was proposed by the PM Dacian Ciolos to replace the outgoing minister Ana Costea. A former advisor on economic issues in the PMs cabinet, Pîslaru, 40, is a graduate of the international economy department of the Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies and holds an MA degree in international relations obtained at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Ana Costea resigned last week following discontent expressed by the trade unions over the draft emergency ordinance on state employees salaries. The PM Cioloş announced the government would continue talks with the social partners about the salaries of state employees with a view to drafting a new law. This is the first resignation of a minister from the technocratic government invested in Romania last November.



    JUDICIARY – The Bucharest Court Monday upheld the prosecutors request to extend the temporary arrest warrants issued for two Israeli citizens, employed by a security company from Israel, who are accused of harassing the chief prosecutor of the Romanian Anti-Corruption Directorate, Laura Codruta Kovesi. Weiner Ron and Geclowicz David were arrested on April 3 for 30 days following a ruling of the Bucharest Court. The two are also accused, among others, of setting up an organized crime group and of illegally accessing an IT system. According to prosecutors, in March they made several threatening phone calls and conducted phishing attacks with a view to obtaining information from the e-mail accounts of the Romanian chief prosecutors relatives.




    DIPLOMACY – Spains Justice Minister, Rafael Catala, will be in Romania on Tuesday and Wednesday, Spains Embassy in Bucharest has announced. During the visit, the Spanish official will have talks with the Romanian Foreign Minister, Lazăr Comănescu, with his counterpart, Raluca Prună, and with the head prosecutor of the National Anti-Corruption Directorate, Laura Codruţa Kovesi. The meetings confirm and reinforce the close bilateral ties and the judicial cooperation between the two states. Around one million Romanians make up the largest foreign community in Spain.




    PARLIAMENT – The Parliament of Romania will propose that Romanias sustainable development strategy, dating back to 2008, should be reviewed and turned from a government resolution into a law. The announcement was made by the head of the Foreign Policy Committee in the Chamber of Deputies, László Borbély, who Monday chaired an international roundtable of Central and Eastern European parliaments focusing on sustainable development. The roundtable was organised by the Romanian Chamber of Deputies and the Inter-Parliamentary Union, an international body that brings together the parliaments of 162 countries. The Parliament of Romania celebrated on this occasion 125 years since it joined that body.




    POLL – Nearly 90% of the Romanians do not agree with immigrants being hosted in their town or village, according to a poll made public in Bucharest. This is a significant higher rate than in September 2015, when 67% of the interviewees gave that answer. More than 80% also disagree to refugees settling in Romania, with only 10% accepting this option. The poll was conducted by INSCOP between March 21 and 28, and commissioned by the daily “Adevărul. The maximum margin of error is 3%.




    STATISTICS – The number of employees in Romania last year exceeded 6 million, up over 200,000 as compared to 2014, according to data made public by the National Statistics Institute (INS). Last year the number of people employed in agriculture dropped by over a quarter of a million, according to the same source, while the number of employees in public administration went up by 50,000 and in education by over 40,000. The unemployment rate was 6.8%, INS also said.