Radio România Internațional

Tag: Justice Ministry

  • August 25, 2023 UPDATE

    August 25, 2023 UPDATE

    LAWS – The Romanian government will
    assume responsibility before Parliament for a law package concerning the reform
    of the state apparatus, the measures aimed at attaining fiscal balance and
    avoiding tax evasion. Wasting public money along with fiscal and tax evasion is
    preventing the country’s development, Romania’s Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu
    has said. The Romanian official will go to Brussels next week for a new round
    of talks with the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, over
    changing the budget deficit target, and according to some government sources,
    talks will also be focusing on the fiscal measures package. The opposition has
    announced its intention to table no-confidence votes against the PSD-PNL Government.




    DRUG ABUSE – Romania’s Justice Minister Alina Gorghiu has called on the Prosecutor General
    Alex Florența to intensify the line
    ministry’s activity combating the illegal drug abuse. Gorghiu says this
    requires a joint effort, recalling the latest investigations conducted by the
    Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) in Constanța or
    Cluj-Napoca, in the wake of which a number of cocaine or cannabis dealers were
    apprehended. Some 4,700 investigations were completed in 2023, although the anti-drug department comprises only 14
    prosecutors, according to Ministry figures. They have to work on a total of
    7,000 such investigations, of which 2,700 were started in the first half of the
    year.


    EDUCATION
    – The Education Ministry has launched for debate a draft emergency decree for
    the introduction of Holocaust Studies in school curricula starting the new
    school year. Among other thing, the draft decree also seeks to equate four-year
    BA degrees with MA decrees and provide accommodation subsidies to students
    choosing to stay in accommodation units other than dorms.




    UNTOLD -
    The UNTOLD Festival in Cluj Napoca is now number six in a standing published by
    the British publication DJ Mag based on the votes of festival fans. The
    standing ranks a hundred festivals, and UNTOLD ranks among the top three in
    Europe, along with Tomorrowland in Belgium and Gastonbury in Great Britain. The
    eighth edition of UNTOLD was visited by 420 thousand fans this year and
    featured such artists and bands as Imagine Dragons, David Guetta or Steve Aoki.
    The Neversea Festival in Constanța
    is also included in the standing, raking 41.




    FOOTBALL
    – Romania’s football champions, Farul Constanța, on Thursday night secured a 2-1 home win against Finnish side
    HJK Helsinki in the play-offs of Europa Conference League. In the same stage of
    the competition, the winners of Romania’s Cup, Sepsi Sfântu Gheorghe, ended in
    a two-all draw their game against Norwegian side Bodoe/Glimt. The decisive
    matches for qualifying in the groups of Europe’s third football competition are
    to take place on August 31.




    ROWING -
    Romanian athlete Cătălin Chirilă won
    gold in the 500m single canoe race on Friday at the 2023 ICF Canoe
    Sprint World Championships hosted by Duisburg, Germany. Chirilă was followed by
    Conrad Scheibner of Germany and Serghei Tarnovschi of the Republic of Moldova.
    This is a personal best for Chirilă in
    the 500m race, after last year he had grabbed silver at the World Championships
    in Dartmouth, Canada. Cătălin Chirilă will compete on Saturday in the 1000m
    race, where he qualified with the second-best result. The competition counts
    for the 2024 Paris Olympics, where the top six athletes will qualify directly.
    Cătălin Chirilă is the defending world champion in this event. (DB + VP)



  • January 21, 2020 UPDATE

    January 21, 2020 UPDATE


    VISIT – President Klaus Iohannis is
    as of Tuesday in Israel, where he is attending the Global Forum Remembering
    Holocaust – Fighting anti-Semitism, marking 75 years since the liberation of
    the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp and the International Holocaust
    Remembrance Day. The main ceremonies will be held on Thursday at the Yad Vashem
    Holocaust Memorial. In Jerusalem, Klaus Iohannis met with his Israeli
    counterpart, Reuven Rivlin, who referred to the close relations with Romania,
    hailing our country’s participation in condemning the Holocaust. In turn,
    President Iohannis said Romania remains fully committed to preserving Holocaust
    memory, combating anti-Semitism and preventing any forms of violence. On
    Wednesday, President Iohannis will meet with the leader of the Blue and White
    Alliance in opposition, Benjamin Gantz.




    PROPOSALS – The Romanian Justice Minister
    Catalin Predoiu on Tuesday announced the proposals for the offices of
    Prosecutor General, head of the National Anticorruption Directorate and head of
    the Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT):
    Gabriela Scutea, Crin Bologa and Giorgiana Hosu respectively. The proposals
    will be submitted to the Superior Council of Magistracy, which has an advisory
    role, and the last decision is to be made by president Klaus Iohannis, who can
    turn them down once. The selection procedure started on December 2nd
    last year, and 18 prosecutors have been interviewed on legislation, judicial
    error, the Caracal case and other topics of interest.




    PER DIEM – The Romanian military,
    gendarmes and police attending mission abroad will receive per diems as high as
    those received by the foreign partners, according to a Government decision. The
    document was initiated by the defense and interior ministers, Nicolae Ciuca and
    Marcel Vela, respectively, following talks with Romanian soldiers and gendarmes
    during December’s visit to Afghanistan. Therefore, the per diem can go up to
    140 Euro per day, depending on the risk level in the areas where they carry out
    their missions and operations.




    SPECIAL PENSIONS – Several courts of law in
    Bucharest and another seven large cities in Romania announced they would
    suspend their activity, judges being displeased with the impending repeal of
    special pensions. The Judicial Inspection claims the bill repealing special
    pensions is a brutal violation of the principles of independence and immovability
    of judges, as well as articles in the Constitution and ECHR provisions. On
    January 28, the Chamber of Deputies will convene to debate a bill on repealing
    this type of pensions, which shun the principle of fair contribution and which
    have sparked heated debates across Romanian society.




    FLU VIRUS – Classes in several schools and
    kindergartens in Bucharest were suspended on Tuesday due to the flu virus.
    Since the start of the winter season, some 165 cases of flu were reported in Romania,
    2 people dying to the virus. Most cases are reported in Arges, Brasov and Cluj
    counties and in Bucharest. At national level, over a quarter of patients
    reporting symptoms have been officially diagnosed with the flu virus. Doctors
    warn the only way to prevent the virus from spreading is vaccination. The
    number of Romanians who have taken the anti-flu vaccine this year is higher
    than last year, when some 150 people died to complications caused by the flu.
    The Health Minister has called on experts to devise an additional action plan
    to prevent and limit the disease from spreading, and elaborate a set of
    response measures in the case of a coronavirus being reported in Romania.




    TENNIS -
    Romanian tennis player Simona Halep, no.3 in the WTA rankings, on Tuesday
    defeated the American Jennifer Brady 7-6, 6-1, in the first round of the
    Australian Open, the first Grand Slam tournament of the year. Also on Tuesday,
    Irina Begu (105 WTA), lost the match against the Dutch Kiki Bertens (10 WTA),
    1-6, 4-6, and Monica Niculescu was defeated by the French Alize Cornet, 5-7,
    6-1, 6-0. Another Romanian, Sorana Cirstea, has already qualified for the
    second round, where she will play against the American Cori Gauff.


    (Translated
    by V. Palcu)

  • July 27, 2018 UPDATE

    July 27, 2018 UPDATE

    VISIT — Romanian PM Viorica Dancila who is on an official tour of the West Balkans, visited Skopje on Friday, where she met with her Macedonian counterpart Zoran Zaev. Dancila reconfirmed Bucharest’s strong commitment to supporting Macedonia in its bid to join the EU and NATO. Dancila also discussed with Zoran Zaev about the Macedonian citizens in Romania and about the Aromanians in Macedonia. She also said she was confident that there are excellent opportunities for cooperation in the field of agriculture.




    JUSTICE – The Justice Ministry in Bucharest announced on Friday that it would resume the procedure for proposing a candidate for head prosecutor of the Anti-Corruption Directorate (DNA). The selection of candidates will start on August 6th and it will last one month, with the interviews to be held at the beginning of September. A conclusion will be presented on September 6, the Justice Ministry announced. The Ministry announced that all four candidacies submitted for the position of chief prosecutor of the Anti Corruption Directorate were rejected and that the procedure would be resumed. The four candidates were interviewed on Thursday by line minister Tudorel Toader. The four are Florentina Mirică, head prosecutor for the anti-corruption service of the DNA, Cristian Lazăr — head prosecutor with the criminal investigation section, Marius Iacob, deputy head prosecutor, and Elena Grecu, head prosecutor with the central section of the DNA. The position became vacant when former chief prosecutor Laura Codruţa Kovesi was dismissed by presidential decree on 9 July, compelled by a Constitutional Court ruling.




    BUDGET – The general consolidated budget deficit in Romania in the first semester of this year reached 3.2 billion Euro, 1.61% of the GDP, according to the Finance Ministry. In the first half of the year, revenues were almost 13% higher, but expenditure rose more sharply, by almost 19% more than the same period of 2017.




    BIAS — Baneasa Airport in Bucharest is hosting on Saturday the Bucharest International Air Show & General Aviation Exhibition, the biggest air show in Romania. Over one hundred pilots and parachutists from 13 countries will attend, with 150 civil and military aircraft. Poland will be attending for the first time, alongside pilots from Greece, Hungary, the US, Spain, Italy, Turkey and Germany.




    ELECTION — The Chisinau Parliament decided on Friday that the next parliamentary elections in Moldova to be held on February 24th, 2019. The mandate of the current Parliament expires on November 30, and elections must be held three months after this date at the latest, that is end-February 2019, in keeping with the Moldovan law. Experts say the next election will be based on the mixed election system passed in 2017 against the Venice Commission’s recommendations.




    EXTRADITION – Serbia rejected the Romanian Justice Ministry’s request for the extradition of former Romanian MP Sebastian Ghita. The High Court of Cassation and Justice in Belgrade has decided that Ghita is eligible for being granted asylum in Serbia. Being investigated in a number of criminal cases, Sebastian Ghita fled Romania in December 2016. After an international arrest warrant was issued, Ghita was detained, in April 2017, in Belgrade, after presenting a fake passport. In May, Serbia’s Supreme Court approved his release on bail.




    REPATRIATION — The Foreign Ministry in Bucharest has announced it finalized the procedure to repatriate from Syria, via Turkey, a group of seven people, six Romanian citizens, five of them minors, and a Syrian citizen, a member of the same family. The Ministry reiterates its firm calls on Romanian citizens to leave Syria. Since the beginning of evacuations from Syria, in 2011, over 750 Romanian citizens and their families were brought back to the country.




    FIRE — In Greece, the number of victims of the fires close to Athens has reached 87, but the toll could be higher, since a number of people are still reported missing. The authorities, accused of having intervened too slowly, said that there are strong indications that the fires may be the result of criminal acts. In Bucharest, the Foreign Ministry announced that there is no information regarding Romanian citizens being among the victims. We recall that Romania sent two airplanes in support of the authorities in Greece: one fire fighting aircraft, and a C-130 Hercules for logistical support.

  • Recovering losses caused by corruption

    Recovering losses caused by corruption

    The 2016-2020 National Anti-corruption Strategy, subject to public debate until the end of the month, addresses the executive, legislative and judiciary powers, local public administration, the business environment as well as civil society. The Criminal Code and the Criminal Procedure Code will be amended, and a new Code of Conduct for members of Parliament will be drawn up. According to Justice Minister Raluca Pruna, recovering the losses incurred by the State further to corruption offences is one of the key coordinates of the Strategy:



    Raluca Pruna: “We must make sure that, first of all, there is a proper legislative framework to regulate confiscation of the proceeds of crime. Also in terms of legislation, for certain types of economic crime, such as tax evasion, where we are already working to amend the law, we need to make sure that if we fully recover the proceeds of crime and the damages are fully paid, prison sentences are no longer required, so as to avoid prison overcrowding and keeping the offenders in the custody of the state, which incurs further costs for society.”



    In order to recover the respective losses more easily, the authorities have set up the National Agency for the Management of Frozen Assets, as a separate division within the National Tax Administration Agency. The Justice Minister says the new agency is up and running:



    Raluca Pruna: “The Tax Agency is in charge of the property subject to asset freezing during the criminal proceedings. After the individual is sentenced, and the state is to recover the losses or damages, there is this special division, the National Agency for the Management of Frozen Assets, which will handle the recovery of damages after the final ruling is passed.”



    The anti-corruption strategy will continue to focus on prevention in the sectors vulnerable to corruption. Because of the limited progress of prevention between 2012 and 2015, the sectors identified in the previous strategy have been preserved and education and healthcare have been added to the list.



    The goal of the Justice Ministry is for the implementation of this document to help Romania reach the EU average figures in terms of the perceived scope of corruption and the domestic attitude towards corruption. Another target is to reduce substantially, by at least 50%, the number of cases of fraud and corruption in public procurement and of integrity incidents in the identified vulnerable sectors, as well as to implement corruption prevention measures in over 80% of the public institutions and companies.



    The strategy, which is to be adopted by the Government in August, works on the assumption of legislative and institutional stability of the anti-corruption environment that has generated the performances of the National Anti-Corruption Directorate and the National Integrity Agency.