Radio România Internațional

Tag: MINORITY

  • Talks on no-confidence motion

    Talks on no-confidence motion

    After the divorce between the Social Democratic Party and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats, in late August, the fate of the Cabinet seemed sealed. But in spite of the declarations of war coming from the Opposition, the minority government of the Social Democrats is in no imminent danger. PM Viorica Dancila takes advantage of the hesitations of the opposition parties, and takes her time asking for a confidence vote in Parliament, as the Constitution requires whenever the configuration of the ruling alliance changes.



    The leader of the National Liberal Party in opposition, Ludovic Orban, announced that the text of the no-confidence motion has already been agreed on with the Save Romania Union, Peoples Movement Party and the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians.



    Ludovic Orban: “We stand by this plan of garnering support for this motion from all the MPs in the parties that do not back the government, and our goal is to get 233 votes in favour of the no-confidence motion, so as to make sure it passes.



    The motion must be signed by 117 MPs in order to be tabled. The Save Romania Union floor group leader, Stelian Ion, urged ALDE and Pro Romania to be clear about their position regarding the Dancila Cabinet:



    Stelian Ion: “The only solution to this crisis is to table a motion of no-confidence and a vote on this motion, and those parties that claimed to have joined the Opposition must clearly define their position as to this censure motion. One cannot claim to be in opposition and still come up with all sorts of absurd conditions for signing and backing the motion. To be specific, I mean my colleagues in ALDE and Pro Romania.



    The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats risks falling apart after having left the ruling coalition—a move that not all its members had agreed with. For this party, the immediate priority is therefore to prevent an implosion. On the other hand, PRO Romania MPs promise that they will back the no-confidence motion unless the PM comes up with a reshuffled Cabinet. Pro Romania leader Victor Ponta:



    Victor Ponta: “We are waiting for PM Dancila to come up on Wednesday with a government reshuffle. If she doesnt do that, and keeping in mind that on Wednesday or Thursday we will very likely no longer have an education minister, in addition to not having an environment minister, a minister liaising with Parliament, an interior minister and an energy minister, then obviously we will have no choice. We have done everything in our power to find a reasonable solution so all Pro Romania MPs will vote in favour of the no-confidence motion that the Liberal Party and Save Romania hopefully will introduce.



    The Chamber of Deputies Speaker, the Social Democrat Marcel Ciolacu, voiced confidence that the Cabinet will survive any scenario, whether a censure motion or a confidence vote:



    Marcel Ciolacu: “I firmly believe that the no-confidence motion will not get 233 votes, and I also believe that we will have the half plus one of the votes required in order to change the political makeup of the Government.



    The leaders of the Social Democratic Party also expect a helping hand from the Constitutional Court. On Wednesday, the Court is to rule on the conflict between the Government and the President, who will not appoint interim ministers for the vacancies left behind by the Liberal Democrats.


    (translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)

  • Romania-Germany relations, in the spotlight

    Romania-Germany relations, in the spotlight

    Romania will encourage European unity during its presidency of the European Council in the first half of next year, Romanias President Klaus Iohannis promised Tuesday while attending the ceremonies held in Bucharest to mark German Unity Day. Almost three decades after the demise of communism in Bucharest and East Berlin and the German reunification of 1990, President Iohannis has welcomed the fact that Romania and Germany share a common approach to the European Union. Efforts to maintain unity should continue, particularly in times like these, when partisan politics is growing strong, the head of state went on to say.



    At bilateral level, President Iohannis recalled that for many years now Germany has been Romanias top trade partner, with massive investments in the development of Romanian economy. Relations between Bucharest and Berlin “are special and strategic, based on friendship and trust, also drawing on excellent social and person-to-person interactions, the president also said.



    In this context, Klaus Iohannis said the German minority in Romania, as well as the Romanian community in Germany have helped improve bilateral relations. Himself a member of the German-speaking community in Romania, Klaus Iohannis said that, 100 years ago, at the end of the Great War, the German minority in Transylvania was the first that recognized, in the Proclamation of Medias, the Union of Transylvania, which had been under Austro-Hungarian rule up to that point, with the Kingdom of Romania. History has taught us that unity is key to progress, both at national and European level, President Iohannis said.



    In turn, the German Ambassador to Bucharest, H.E. Cord Meier-Klodt promised that Berlin would continue to support Bucharest, arguing that unity in diversity is “one of the most beautiful and distinctive features of modern Romania, which should be celebrated as such in the year of the Great Union Centennial. Modern Romania, Ambassador Meier-Klodt added, has overcome a whole century of huge challenges and catastrophes, “standing united as a country with multiple ethnic, linguistic and religious groups, resembling a smaller version of early Europe, with a powerful German community.



    Totaling some 750,000 in the interwar period, German nationals started to move back to Germany in large numbers at the end of World War II with the instatement of communist rule in Romania. Today, there remain less than a hundred thousand. According to data made public by the Federal Statistics Office of Germany, Romanians account for the fifth-largest minority in Germany, with over 860,000 people. Most of them are either German nationals returned from Transylvania, Banat and Bukovina, or immigrants seeking a better life.


    (translated by: Vlad Palcu)

  • Bucharest condemns limitation of rights for Romanian ethnics in Ukraine

    Bucharest condemns limitation of rights for Romanian ethnics in Ukraine

    A unanimous vote in the Parliament of Romania is a rare occurrence. One such example was this Wednesday, when all the MPs attending a joint meeting of the Senate and Chamber of Deputies, without exception, endorsed a declaration expressing their disagreement with a new bill on education in neighbouring Ukraine.



    The controversial draft law, which only needs the signature of President Petro Poroshenko to take effect, drastically restricts the access to education for many ethnic minorities in that country. Under the bill, all high school and university classes are to be taught in Ukrainian, and mother tongue tuition is only allowed in kindergartens and primary education.



    Romanian MPs say they are monitoring these developments “with concern and the utmost attention, and call for prompt measures taken in good faith, in the spirit of cooperation and in strict compliance with the European standards in the field of national minority protection and with the relevant bilateral and multilateral agreements to which Ukraine is a party.



    The Parliament of Romania also wants proper protection of the linguistic, cultural and linguistic identity of the nearly half a million Romanian ethnics in the neighbouring country, most of them living in the territories annexed by the former Soviet Union under a 1940 ultimatum and taken over by Ukraine as a successor state.



    From the parliamentary majority, the Social Democratic Senator Titus Corlatean, a former foreign minister, says the way in which Ukraines Education Law is being modified is a major step back in Kievs European and democratic endeavour.



    Deputy Attila Korodi, from the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania, also believes Ukraine is backing away from the fundamental principles of democracy, the rule of law and human rights guarantees. In turn, Senator Ion Hadarca from the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats in Romania warns that the Romanian ethnics in Ukraine risk losing their cultural identity.



    In the Opposition, the former president of the National Liberal Party Alina Gorghiu calls on the Government of Romania to find solutions to work with Kiev on the matter, and suggests that Romania should cover the costs of textbooks and teacher salaries for the Romanian children in Ukraine.



    According to Deputy Constantin Codreanu, a member of the Peoples Movement Party, Bucharest should demand that Ukraine reciprocate Romanias protection of ethnic minority rights. Also in the Opposition, Save Romania Party member Matei Dobrovie says that, since the annexation of Crimea, Ukraines squabbles with its neighbours have given Russia further pretexts to strengthen its military presence at the Black Sea.


    (translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)

  • 17 August, 2016

    17 August, 2016

    MINORITY — At the Summer University in Izvorul Muresului today, the themes for debate are the rights of minorities around Romanias frontiers and the Balkans, as well as relations with countries where Romanian communities live. Also under debate are granting Romanian citizenship, as well as the situation of Romanian schools and churches. Members of the diaspora and of Romanian minority groups in neighboring countries pleaded for Romanias unification with the Republic of Moldova. They issued an appeal to PM Dacian Ciolos for permanent and institutionalized dialog between the authorities of the two countries. Stay tuned for more after the news.



    TURKEY – Turkey has a long and difficult road ahead before obtaining visa waiver status with the EU, and short term prospects are not encouraging, said the German Minister for European Affairs, Michael Roth, quoted by Reuters online. He said that it was clearly stated right from the start in the migration agreement between Turkey and the EU that Turkey has to meet 72 criteria before the Union would allow Turks to travel without a visa to its member countries. At the same time, Roth said that it was important for communication channels to be kept open, since Turkey is a major partner, and considering both the refugee crisis and the fact that the Turkish community in Germany numbers over 3 million.



    FOOTBALL — Romanias vice-champions in soccer, Steaua Bucharest, on Tuesday suffered a crushing defeat on home turf in the game against English top team Manchester City. The victory came at the end of the game, when Argentinian striker Sergio Aguero managed a hat trick, while missing two penalty shots. The return leg is scheduled for August 24. In spite of this, Steauas presence is assured in the Europa League groups. At the same time, Romanian champions Astra play on Thursday, also at home, against another English team, West Ham United, seeking qualification to the groups of the second continental competition. Three other Romanian teams, CSMS Iasi, Viitorul Constanta and Pandurii Targu Jiu, were eliminated in the preliminaries of European cups.



    OLYMPICS — Three Romanian female athletes compete today in the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. In wrestling, Emilia Alina Vuc competes in the 48 kg category, while Claudia Bobocea and Florina Pierdevara run in the 800 m track event. After 11 days in the Olympics, Romania still has only four medals: the gold obtained by the womens epee team, the silver obtained by the pair Florin Mergea/ Horia Tecau in the mens tennis doubles, and two bronze medals, obtained by Gabriel Sincraian in weightlifting, and by the womens coxed eight rowing team. Romania did not get any medal in gymnastics at this edition, which happens for the first time in the last 44 years. The last time the Romanians came back home without a medal in that discipline was in 1972, after the Munich Olympics.



    TENNIS — Romanian tennis celebrity Simona Halep, seeded 4th, plays today against German Annika Beck, seeded 44th, in the second round of the tournament in Cincinnati, the US, with total prizes worth 2.8 million dollars. The two have recently met before four times, with Halep winning three of the matches. In the first round, another Romanian, Irina Begu, seeded 23rd, faces off against Swedish player Johanna Larsson, 65th seeded. In 2015, when Halep played in the finals in Cincinnati, she was defeated by Serena Williams. This tournament comes ahead of the US Open, the last major competition of the year.



    BELGRADE — US Vice-president Joe Biden yesterday in Belgrade gave condolences to the Serb people for the victims of the 1999 NATO bombing campaign in the Yugoslav Wars. This is the first American high official to make such a gesture, after the NATO intervention in the Kosovo war. Hundreds of Serb nationalists protested against Bidens visit. Many Serbs continue to blame the US for its role in the wars that led to the break-up of Yugoslavia. Joe Biden had previously met Serb President Tomislav Nikolich and PM Aleksandar Vuchich, talking about bilateral relations, dialog between Belgrade and Pristina, and Serbias European integration. The US official urged officials in Belgrade to normalize relations with Kosovo, which declared unilaterally its independence in 2008.

  • Romania has a new election law

    Romania has a new election law

    The proportional representation system will again be used, after
    being replaced in 2008 with the uninominal voting system.




    Over-sized, inefficient and far from properly representing voters
    this is how Parliament is perceived by public opinion in Romania. The
    inadequate, sometimes even abusive interpretation of the principle of
    parliamentary immunity has also largely contributed to this negative image.
    Something had to change, so the new law will replace the uninominal voting
    system with proportional representation.






    Without guaranteeing an improvement in the quality of Parliament’s
    members, the new system will at least result in a reduction in the number of
    MPs to 466 from 588. Fewer senators and deputies, a reintroduction of the
    proportional representation system and keeping the 5% minimum threshold are the
    main provisions of the new election law, a bill supported by all parliamentary
    groups. The Social Democrat MP Gabriela Podasca argues that proportional
    representation, which will be used in the 2016 elections, is the most
    representative, simple and fair election system:






    Gabriela Podasca: The number of seats you get in Parliament now
    depends on the number of votes you get, provided you reach the minimum threshold.
    We will now be able for the first time to gather exact data as to the number of
    Romanian citizens living abroad and we’ll know how many polling stations we
    need to set up.






    The number of MPs to represent Romanian citizens living abroad,
    whose upper limit is 6, has in fact been the major area of disagreement between
    the leftist majority and the Liberal opposition. The Liberal MP Victor Paul
    Dobre:


    Victor Paul Dobre: We believe the number of seats allocated to
    the diaspora is insufficient to represent the people living and working in
    various countries in the world, in particular the European Union.






    The vote of the Romanians living abroad has entered public agenda in
    the aftermath of last autumn’s presidential elections. The bad management of
    the voting process abroad, when many people had to wait in never-ending queues,
    has generated massive public discontent and possibly even cost the Social
    Democrat Prime Minister Victor Ponta the presidential race. Under the new
    election law, the Permanent Electoral Authority will be responsible for holding
    the parliamentary elections and a computer system will be introduced to monitor
    voter turnout and prevent fraud.