Radio România Internațional

Tag: laws on the judiciary

  • Reactions to the proposed amendments to the justice laws

    Reactions to the proposed amendments to the justice laws

    As expected by the media, the Superior Council of Magistracy on Thursday gave a negative opinion on a bill to amend the justice laws proposed by the Justice Minister Tudorel Toader. What came as a surprise for many commentators, however, is the tight result of the vote in the Council, which indicates deep divisions among its members. Ten of them voted in favour of a negative opinion and eight for a positive opinion, albeit with some observations.



    The objections of those who voted against are essentially related to several controversial proposals in the bill. These include the transfer of the Judicial Inspectorate under the control of the justice ministry, the elimination of the president from the procedure to appoint the chief prosecutors of the anticorruption and antimafia prosecutor offices, the interdiction to become a magistrate for legal professionals under the age of 30 and the creation of a specialised directorate to prosecute magistrates who commit crimes. The eight Council members who stood for a positive opinion blame the majority for hindering reform.



    Minister Toader, who did not attend the meeting of the Superior Council of Magistracy saying he did not wish to influence debates, later said some people do not want to reform the system, which must be brought within what he called the parameters of constitutionality. He also said he was convinced that the negative opinion also reflected a wish to maintain the current privileges enjoyed by magistrates. The Association of Magistrates in Romania has also criticised the negative opinion issued by the Council. The Association writes in a press release that under the circumstances, the viewpoints sent to the Council from around the country could no longer be supported before the lawmaker.



    President Klaus Iohannis, on the other hand, said, through his spokesman, that the Councils opinion, despite being only advisory, cannot be ignored by the government and Parliament. Speaking on behalf of the biggest party in the right-wing opposition, the leader of the National Liberal Party Ludovic Orban said the government should give up on all provisions in the bill in question, which he said limit the independence of the judiciary. The media and civic organisations view the vote in the Council as rather good news. They reflect the lack of confidence of a significant section of Romanian society in a government suspected of wishing to seize control of the judiciary and put the break on the fight against corruption.



    At the beginning of the year, an attempt by the government to amend the criminal codes through an emergency order triggered the biggest street protests in post-communist Romania. In Bucharest and around the country as well in the Diaspora, hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets blaming the government for trying to exempt from criminal accountability influential people from the world of politics and the administration accused of corruption. (Translated by C. Mateescu)

  • September 5, 2017 UPDATE

    September 5, 2017 UPDATE

    RESIGNATION – Defense Minister Adrian Tutuianu on Tuesday tendered his resignation, which Prime Minister Mihai Tudose accepted. Sworn in in late June, Tutuianu motivated his move invoking the lack of communication over the topic of salaries in the military. Previously the Defense Ministry had announced that employees will this month receive only their regular pay, without their meal allowances and their social security contributions and income taxes being wired to the state budget. The Ministrys announcement was denied both by the Prime Minister and the Finance Ministry, which argued there were no difficulties in covering the salary entitlements of Defense Ministry employees. Prime Minister Tudose said Deputy Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu will act as interim Defense Minster pending the nomination of a new minister by the ruling coalition.



    ECONOMY – Romanias Prime Minister Mihai Tudose on Tuesday met with representatives of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. The IMF delegation was given access to the databases of the National Fiscal Administration Agency so as to draft their new report on Romania. The meeting was held as the Government plans a new budget readjustment and the draft budget for next year. Mihai Tudose said the budget adjustment will be positive and will be made public by the end of the month. Also on Tuesday the National Statistics Institute said Romanias GDP went up by 5,8% in the first six months of the year as compared to the same period of last year.



    JUDICIARY – US Ambassador to Bucharest Hans Klemm on Tuesday expressed hope to continue working with the Justice Ministry and the Romanian Government. Klemm had talks with Minister Tudorel Toader about his vision on modifying the laws on the judiciary, arguing that such consultations are normal for a strategic partnership, as the one Romania has with the United States. The meeting was held after the US Embassy last week expressed concern over the independence of Romanias judiciary in the wake of Toaders announced reform of the judiciary. Harshly criticized by the opposition, civil society and the media, the bill stipulates, among other things, that the president of the country is no longer to appoint the chiefs of the National Anti-Corruption Directorate and the Directorate Investigating Organised Crime and Terrorism, that the judicial inspection corps will be subordinated to the Justice Ministry, and that the promotion of magistrates will require more years of service. Earlier this year the Government tried to pass an emergency order amending the criminal codes, which sparked massive street protests across Romania against the power trying to prevent influential people in the political and administrative systems from facing criminal justice.



    OECD – Romania’s objective is favoring a coherent, cohesive Europe,
    closer to the concerns of its own citizens and more trustworthy at global
    level, Foreign Minister Teodor Melescanu said on Tuesday at the Strategic Forum
    in Bled, Slovenia. The Minister underlined the importance of the EU as a global
    actor based on sharing common values and principles of international law, as
    well as the need to take on a pragmatic and ambitious approach that responds to
    the expectations of EU citizens. On the sidelines of the event Melescanu had
    talks with the Secretary General of the Organization for Economic Cooperation
    and Development, Angel Gurria, about Romania’s OECD candidacy. Melescanu
    outlined Romania’s strengths, with a focus on political determination and
    fulfilling technical criteria. Melescanu also met with his Macedonian and Montenegrin
    counterparts, Nikola Dimitrov and Aleksandar Andrija Pejović, respectively,
    whom he assured of Romania’s support for their countries’ EU accession efforts.



    MOLDOVA – Moldovan President Igor Dodon has forbidden the participation of Moldovan military in the Rapid Trident military drill in Ukraine, after previously rejecting the participation of Moldovan soldiers in the Platinum Eagle 17.2 military drill held in Babagad, Romania, a decision criticized by Prime Minister Pavel Filip. The Prime Minister believes the decision does not fit the logic of a commander in chief.



    NORTH KOREA – The UN Security Council is this week discussing a resolution in response to North Koreas having conducted a nuclear test at the end of last week, its sixth so far. North Korea said its test of what it described as a hydrogen bomb designed for a long-range missile was a perfect success. The UN Security Council strongly condemned North Korea’s outrageous test, saying it is deliberately undermining regional peace and stability. US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said Monday that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was begging for war as she urged the UN Security Council to adopt the strongest sanctions possible to stop Pyongyang’s nuclear program. Speaking at a Security Council emergency meeting, Nikki Haley said North Korea’s sixth nuclear test was a clear sign that the time for half measures from the UN had to end. The Council will take a decision on Monday.



    FOOTBALL – Romanias national football team was defeated by Montenegro on Monday 1-0 in Podgorica, in Group E of the World Cup qualifiers, losing any chance to qualify to the final tournament in Russia. Romania ranks fourth in the group, after Poland, Denmark and Montenegro. Romanias next fixture against Kazakhstan will be held on home turf in the town of Ploiesti on October 5 while the one against Denmark will be held on November 8th in Copenhagen. The manager of the Romanian national team, the German Christoph Daum, has been strongly criticized for the teams poor results. (Translated by V. Palcu & E. Enache)

  • August 31, 2017 UPDATE

    August 31, 2017 UPDATE

    DIPLOMACY — Foreign Minister Teodor Melescanu on Thursday said Romania must take on higher responsibilities in European economic diplomacy and fulfill its full potential. Addressing the Annual Meeting of Romanian Diplomacy in Bucharest, Minister Melescanu also referred to the need to diversify trade relations by focusing on emerging economies and regaining influence on traditional markets and looking towards others. The theme for this year’s meeting is “A Changing World — The Stakes of Romania’s Foreign Policy”.



    APPOINTMENT — The head of the Permanent Election Authority Daniel Barbu on Thursday took over the leadership of the World Election Bodies Association (AWEB) for a two-year tenure. Barbu was sworn in at the third meeting of AWEB hosted by Bucharest. The decision was taken at the AWEB General Assembly of 2016. Romania’s Election Authority joined AWEB as soon as the association was founded in 2013. AWEB currently comprises election authorities from over 100 countries from all over the world.



    ROMANIAN LANGUAGE DAY –The Romanian Language Day was celebrated on Thursday. On this occasion, the Ministry for the Romanian diaspora organized in Bucharest, in a partnership with the Romanian Academy, a conference on “Romanian language revival and renewal in the diaspora,” while the Romanian Cultural Institute organised activities in major cities abroad. Conferences, roundtables, book launches, recitals and exhibitions were held in Istanbul, New York, Madrid, Tel Aviv and Warsaw. The Romanian Language Day was also celebrated in the Republic of Moldova, and according to the ambassador of Romania to Chisinau, Daniel Ioniţă, this is further proof of the profound unity of the people living on the two banks of Prut River.



    PARLIAMENT — Parliament will resume its plenary sessions on Friday after the summer recess. High on the MPs’ agenda are several emergency orders, among which one on increasing pensions to reflect inflation and another on capping child-rearing benefits to 1,850 euros per month. The draft law on vaccination and amending the laws on the judiciary are also on Parliament’s agenda.



    JUDICIARY — The Romanian Justice Ministry has made public the bill modifying the laws on the judiciary, on which Minister Tudorel Toader has requested the official opinion of the Superior Council of Magistrates. The bill, which is intended to make the management of courts and prosecutor offices more efficient, stipulates changes primarily in terms of the professional assessment, promotion, and appointment to senior positions of staff in the judicial system. Some of the changes announced a while ago by Minister Tudorel Toader concern the appointment of the prosecutor general and of the chief prosecutors of the National Anti-Corruption Directorate and the Directorate Investigating Organised Crime and Terrorism by the Superior Council of Magistrates based on a nomination by the Justice Minister, and the setup of a special directorate to investigate offences committed by magistrates. The measures have been criticized and prompted street protests. The National Anti-Corruption Directorate says this is a form of pressure on the work of prosecutors, while the Prosecutor General, Augustin Lazar, says that if endorsed, the bill would affect the independence of magistrates and the activity of judicial institutions.



    EXCISE — Romanian carriers criticize the Government’s decision to increase fuel excises, and predict dark times will come for Romanian transports. The Romanian Federation of Transport Operators says each additional eurocent in the price of petrol and diesel will have a direct impact on the competitiveness of Romanian road carriers and will force many international transport operators to buy fuel from abroad. On Wednesday the Government decided to increase fuel excises in 2 stages, as of September 15 and October 1, respectively. Finance Minister Ionuţ Mişa explained that the measure would be introduced gradually so as not to generate a shock, consisting in higher prices and lower consumption, which would affect the state budget.



    BREXIT — EU Chief Negotiator for Brexit Michel Barnier said no significant progress has been made on the main points of negotiations with Great Britain. Barnier said there are confidence issues between the two camps. In turn, British Secretary for Brexit David Davis urged the EU to be more flexible.



    FOOTBALL — Romania’s national football team is preparing for the game against Armenia, to be played on Friday on home turf, and the one against Montenegro away from home on Monday, as part of the preliminary Group E of next year’s World Football Cup hosted by Russia. The unchallenged leader of the group is Poland, with 16 points, followed by Montenegro and Denmark, with 10 points each, Romania and Armenia, 6, and Kazakhstan, with 2 points. In this preliminary campaign, the Romanian team is for the first time in its history managed by a foreign coach, the German Cristoph Daum. (Translated by A.M. Popescu & V. Palcu)