Radio România Internațional

Tag: Moldovan government

  • November 12, 2019 UPDATE

    November 12, 2019 UPDATE

    EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT – The
    European Parliament Committee on Legal Affairs has approved the candidacies of
    the commissioners designated by France, Romania and Hungary. In a special
    session on Tuesday, the Committee analyzed any potential or real conflicts of
    interest in each of the case. After getting the endorsement of the Legal
    Affairs Committee, the three candidates, Thierry Breton, Adina Valean and
    Oliver Varhelyi, will be heard by the specialized committees on Thursday. Once
    the hearings completed, the EC President Elect Ursula von der Leyen will
    present the list of designated commissioners and the program of the Commission
    during a plenary session on November 27. Also on Tuesday, Adina Valean has been
    heard by the joint European Affairs Committees of the Romanian Parliament,
    whose role is advisory. She has announced that, as a European Commissioner, she
    will keep supporting the mechanisms for interconnection, by means of which 1.24
    billion Euro have been invested in the Romanian transport infrastructure, and
    another 500 million in the energy infrastructure. The mechanism is aimed at
    interconnecting the EU’s transport, energy and telecommunication grids.




    PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION – The
    leaders of the National Liberal Party and the Social Democratic Party, whose
    candidates will run in the second round of the presidential elections in
    Romania, on November 24, met on Tuesday to discuss their campaign strategies.
    In the first round, the current president Klaus Iohannis, supported by the
    Liberals, got 37.5% of the votes, and the head of the Social Democratic Party,
    Viorica Dancila, got approximately 23%. Viorica Dancila said she wants a public
    debate head-to-head with Klaus Iohannis. The latter has dismissed the idea of a
    debate with Viorica Dancila, whom he considers the candidate of an unreformed
    party that tranmpled the rule of law and sidetracked Romania’s pro-European
    projects. At the end of Tuesday’s meeting of the Socialist Party Executive Committee, Viorica Dancila said former Justice Minister Ana Birchall and Cozmin Gusa, as well as all MPs who voted the investiture of the Orban Cabinet, have been excluded from the party ranks.




    MOLDOVA – Romania’s President
    Klaus Iohannis believes the collapse of Maia Sandu’s Cabinet in the Republic of
    Moldova at a very important time for the reform of the judiciary goes against
    the country’s medium- and long-term interests. According to a Presidency
    release, the Romanian President warned that in the current context, Romania’s
    support, including its financial assistance, will be strictly dependent on the
    continuation of key reforms for the democratic development of the Republic of
    Moldova and its European track. In turn, Prime Minister Ludovic Orban believes
    the decision to dismiss Maia Sandu’s Cabinet by means of a no-confidence motion
    raises many questions as to the subsequent evolution of this country. Prime
    Minister Orban warned that the chances of the Romanian Government cooperating
    with a Moldovan Government that offers no real guarantees in defense of a
    genuine democracy are very slim. Invested 5 months ago, Maia Sandu’s pro-western
    Government did not survive Tuesday’s no-confidence motion in Parliament, filed
    by the pro-Russian Socialist Party and the Democratic Party. The motion was
    filed last week by the Socialist Party, a junior coalition party, after the
    Government pledged to modify the procedure for appointing the prosecutor
    general. The EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Federica Mogherini,
    reiterated that the EU’s relations with Moldova will continue to rely on the
    observance of the rule of law and democratic standards.




    RADET – Bucharest’s heating
    supplier RADET has officially gone bankrupt, following a final ruling by the
    Bucharest Court of Appeal, but the municipality and representatives of ELCEN,
    the company that produces heat and hot water for the centralized system, has
    assured the citizens of Bucharest that they will not be affected by this
    situation. The company that provides heating in the capital has been under
    insolvency for three years, and the causes that have led to the current
    situation are many. Among them, the huge debt, of more than 840 million Euro,
    to the producer ELCEN, the state not paying the due subsidies and also the old
    installations owned by RADET.




    INFLATION – The annual rate of
    inflation in Romania dropped in October to 3.4%, from 3.5% in September,
    against the background of an increase in the prices of non-food products and
    services. The National Bank has decreased to 3.8% the inflation forecast for
    the end of this year and it estimates an inflation rate of 3.1% next year. The
    International Monetary Fund has revised upwards the forecasts regarding
    consumption prices in Romania this year, up to an average annual increase of
    4.2%, as to the 3.3% estimated in spring.


    (Translated by M. Ignatescu & V. Palcu)

  • January 30, 2016 UPDATE

    January 30, 2016 UPDATE

    LETTER – Romanian Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos on Saturday sent a letter to his Moldovan counterpart Pavel Filip detailing the reforms Chisinau must carry out in the shortest time possible in order to receive the first instalment worth 60 million euros as part of a reimbursable 150-million-euro loan Romania will give to Moldova. According to a Government release, there are 7 measures that need to be adopted, including the implementation of the EU-Moldova Association Agenda, the adoption of laws to improve the business sector, setting a roadmap for signing an agreement with the IMF, reviewing vulnerabilities in the banking sector and adopting a legal timetable for correcting them, appointing a National Bank Governor by means of a transparent and reliable process and adopting an anti-corruption law package. On Tuesday, the Moldovan Prime Minister paid his first official visit to Romania.



    ELECTIONS – The National Union for the Progress of Romania will have its own separate candidates in the local elections, hoping to obtain 10% of the votes, party president Gabriel Oprea said on Saturday. At the legislative elections however his party will submit joint candidates with the Social-Democratic Party. While Oprea didnt rule out an alliance with the Social-Democrats for the locals, he said it was the organizations that had a say in the matter. On the other hand, Gabriel Oprea said he opposed the switch to the two-ballot vote for the local elections, as the Liberals have proposed. The Social-Democratic Party has firmly opposed the move. Besides the Liberals, only the Peoples Movement Party has argued in favour of the new system. Local elections are scheduled to take place in early June. Legislative elections will be held later this year in Romania.



    MIGRANTS – At least 33 migrants died on Saturday in a new shipwreck in the Aegean Sea, after their boat capsized, a Turkish coast guard official has announced. Originating from Syria, Afghanistan and Burma, the migrants left from Cankkale in Turkey trying to reach Lesbos Island. On Thursday, 24 migrants, including 10 children, drowned in a shipwreck off the coast of the Samos Island. The head of FRONTEX Fabrice Leggeri told Der Spiegel that approximately 1 million migrants are expected to arrive in Europe this year via Turkey. The FRONTEX official said the Government in Turkey doesnt have the means to keep the migration flows at bay, despite an agreement in this sense agreed with the EU. In 2015, over 1 million immigrants arrived in Europe.



    PHOTOGRAPHY – Famous British photographer Richard John Seymour, the recipient of several photography awards, has recently visited the Turda salt mine in central Romania, as part of a project to take photos of the most spectacular anthropical landscapes. In an article published on thespaces.com carried by the CNN, the salt mine is described as an unusual attraction, visited every year by thousands of tourists. People go down in the mine to treat various respiratory diseases, others to play mini-golf, bowling or to take a boat ride on the underground lake. In 2014, Business Insider ranked the Turda salt mine among the top 25th most attractive tourist destinations in the world.



    VOTE – Minister Delegate for Romanians Abroad Dan Stoenescu on Saturday, invited Romanians abroad to register with the election register and recommended they used postal voting as an alternative to the traditional voting system. In a live-video dial dialogue on his official Facebook page, Minister Stoenescu highlighted that unless they submitted the necessary documents for the authorities to take them in evidence or if they changed their home address before the deadline for signing up for the election register expires, they will only be able to vote in voting polls at embassies, consular offices and cultural institutes of Romania. Voters can register starting April 1, while the deadline for registering expires two days before the election campaign starts.



    EBRD – The head of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development Suma Chakrabarti is paying an official visit to Romania on Monday and Tuesday. He will meet with President Klaus Iohannis, Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos, Finance Minister Anca Paliu Dragu and National Bank Governor Mugur Isarescu. The EBRD official will also discuss with representatives of the business sector the investment climate, the pace of reforms and the economic context in general. According to the EBRD, in 2016 Romanias economic growth will be the most robust at European level. EBRD is one of the biggest institutional investors in Romania, with 7 billion euros invested so far and another 14 billion from other funding sources. Last year the EBRD adopted a new strategy for Romania, prioritising investment for the next years by expanding access to financing, cutting back on regional imbalances by improving infrastructure and stepping up competitiveness in the private sector.



    TENNIS – German tennis player Angelique Kerber won her first Grand Slam tournament today after defeating Serena Williams of the US in the womens finals. For her win Kerber will step up to 2nd place in WTA standings, replacing Romanian Simona Halep. Serena Williams will remain world leader. On the other hand, the pair made up of Romanian Horia Tecau and Coco Vandeweghe of the US on Sunday will play fifth-seeds Elena Vesnina of Russia and Bruno Soares of Brazil in the mixed doubles final of the Australian Open, the first Grand Slam tournament of the year. Tecau and Vandeweghe knocked out Treat Huey of the Philippines and Andreja Klepac of Slovenia, 6-4, 6-4 in the semis. In 2012 Horia Tecau won the mixed doubles at Australian Open together with Bethanie Mattek-Sands of the US.


    (Translated by V. Palcu)

  • January 20, 2016 UPDATE

    January 20, 2016 UPDATE


    VISIT – Romania supports all efforts to consolidate border controls and hopes this contribution will be recognized in addition to the additional Schengen accession criteria, which Romania has fulfilled, Romanian Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos said in Paris on Wednesday, after meeting with French President Francois Hollande. Dacian Ciolos pointed out that Romania was interested in joining a robust, consolidated and dependable Schengen area, supporting all initiatives in this respect. During the meeting the two officials also approached ways to intensify economic relations, common objectives in the fields of research, defence and education, the developments in Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova, with regard to the latters efforts to join the EU. At the same time Francois Hollande accepted the invitation of visiting Romania this year. Dacian Ciolos is also due to meet with Romanian BA and MA students at the Sciences Politiques University, as well as with representatives of the Romanian community. On Thursday, the Prime Minister is set to meet heads of French businesses and hold official talks at the National Assembly headquarters.



    MOLDOVA – The Moldovan Parliament on Wednesday passed the structure and programme of the new Cabinet led by Prime Minister designate Pavel Filip. The new Government got 57 votes in favour out of the total of 101. The head of Government thanked parliamentary parties for their support and promised to maintain a constructive dialogue with them, as well as with the opposition. A protest was also staged before the Parliament building. Unhappy with the vote, protesters forced the police security cordon, entering Parliament. Pavel Filip has this week been designated to form a new Cabinet, backed by a majority made up of Democratic, Liberal, former communist and a group of Liberal-Democratic MPs.



    MEETING – On Thursday President Klaus Iohannis is meeting heads of diplomatic missions to Bucharest. The president will outline Romanias main foreign policy priorities for this year. The new Apostolic Nuncio to Bucharest, his Holiness Miguel Maury Buendia, will deliver a keynote address on behalf of the diplomatic corps.



    RULING – The Constitutional Court of Romania ruled on Wednesday that the law giving special pension benefits to local elected officials is against the Constitution, as notified by the Government. The Court has found that the law is unclear, it discriminates between elected officials and fails to indicate the financing sources. On December 26, 2015, the Government notified the Court that some provisions in the law apparently breach the Constitution, in that they regulate privileges for certain local elected officials, they give special rights retroactively and fail to specify financing sources for the new benefits. The Government warned that there are at least 16,300 potential beneficiaries of the law, and the budgetary strain in 2016 may affect the stability of the fiscal-budgetary framework.



    DEFENCE – Romanian Defence Minister Mihnea Motoc on Thursday will pay an official visit to Brussels, where he will hold talks with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and with his Belgian counterpart Steven Vandeput. The Romanian official will also meet with General Petr Pavel, the head of the NATO Military Committee at the NATO General Headquarters. Mihean Motoc will also visit Romanian patients who suffered burn injuries in the Colectiv nightclub fire tragedy last year. The patients are currently receiving specialized medical care at the Queen Astrid Military Hospital in the Belgian capital city. We recall that 63 people were killed in the fire at Colectiv on October 30, 2015.



    BRUA – The BRUA pipeline, which will connect the natural gas networks of Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Austria, is a major Romanian contribution to enhancing the security of the EU natural gas supplies, by diversifying sources for Central Europe, says the Romanian Ministry of Energy. The Connecting Europe Facility-Energy Committee in the European Commission Tuesday validated the allocation of 179 million euros for the works to be carried out by the Romanian company Transgaz on the national natural gas transport system in view of the development of the BRUA pipeline. The Commission said the BRUA inter-connector is a key step to the development of the EU natural gas market, in that it will enable natural gas to reach Central Europe from the Caspian region and other sources. For 2014-2020, the Commission has earmarked 5.3 billion euro for the trans-European energy infrastructure.



    COLD WEATHER – The weather is extremely cold in most regions. The capital city Bucharest and 19 counties in the south and the centre are under a code yellow alert against extremely low temperatures. Skies will be overcost in most regions, while dense fog is expected in the morning. From Thursday until the end of the week, meteorologists have extended the alert against cold snap to the majority of the country, except five counties in the west and northwest. Minimum temperatures will range from minus 17 to minus 4 degrees, while highs will range between minus 9 and plus 2 degrees.



    MIGRATION – The European Commission is considering measures to distribute migrants more fairly across EU Member states, news agencies report. The President of the European Council, Donald Tusk, told the European Parliament on Tuesday that the Union has two months to bring the migrant crisis under control, otherwise the Schengen visa-free region may collapse. Donald Tusk also estimated that the EU as a political project would fail unless it manages to manage its external borders properly. He discussed strengthening border controls and stepping up the establishment of reception centres in Greece and Italy, where migrants will be classed as either economic migrants, to be repatriated, or refugees to be sent to Member States under the compulsory quota rules. Yesterday in Prague, the interior ministers of the Visegrad Group (Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia), reiterated their opposition to the compulsory quotas and asked for the set-up of efficient ‘hotspot’ centres. According to the figures proposed by the European Commission, Romania is to receive a total 6,351 refugees.




    (Translated by V. Palcu)

  • November 26, 2015 UPDATE

    November 26, 2015 UPDATE

    Călin Popescu Tăriceanu, the acting president of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (PABSEC) and speaker of the Romanian Senate, on Thursday gave a speech before the organization members in which he said that the strategic binder of their cooperation should remain the Black Sea. Tăriceanu said that, given the current geopolitical and economic context, one should not underestimate the region’s advantages, namely an area measuring 20 million sq. m., a population of more than 350 million inhabitants and its geo-strategic importance. The statement was made in the opening of the 46th meeting of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation. The event brings to Bucharest, until Friday, 76 MPs, representing 12 states in the Black Sea region.




    Moscow will take economic, diplomatic and military measures against Ankara, in retaliation for the downing of a Russian warplane by Turkey, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev announced on Thursday. Turkey said the downed jet had encroached on Turkish air space and was warned repeatedly to change course, while Russian officials said the plane was at no time over Turkey. The crew ejected and one pilot was reportedly shot dead by rebels as he parachuted to the ground. According to Russian media, the surviving pilot said that they did not fly over Turkish air space, and that there were no visual or radio warnings from Turkey. The downing of the jet was one of the most serious publicly acknowledged clashes between a NATO member and Russia for half a century.




    The Romanian Minister of European Funds, Aura Raducu, said on Thursday she wanted Romania’s EU funds absorbtion rate to exceed 70% for the 2007-2013 financial framework. Raducu said that out of the 15 thousand contracts and projects financed from these funds some 55 hundread should be completed by year-end. According to Minister Aura Raducu, 28 billion euros were yearmarked for Romania under the 2007-2013 financial framework.




    The leadership of the Bucharest-Ilfov Inspectorate for Emergency Situations was suspended Wednesday following an internal investigation that revealed that the institution knew about the activities taking place in the Colectiv Bucharest-based club, but did not make any verifications. Also on Wednesday, the General Prosecutor’s Office announced that prosecutors changed the legal qualification in the case of the Colectiv club owners from bodily harm to manslaughter. 60 people have died following the fire of October 30th in the Colectiv nightclub in Bucharest. 37 people injured are still in Bucharest hospitals and another 29 in hospitals aboard.




    Romanian President Klaus Iohannis discussed on Thursday with ambassadors of the EU countries in Bucharest, about Romania’s role within the EU, ways to stop migration and the terrorist attacks in Paris. Iohannis said the European states must work together with the transit countries and the countries of origins in order to stop the refugee wave.




    The Moldovan politicians, who have been trying for several weeks to set up a new parliamentary majority, on Wednesday, were urged by Brussels officials to start negotiations unconditionally and reset the governing alliance that should set the priorities for the future government. The priorities should focus on real pro-European reforms. The talks of the Moldovan President, Nicolae Timofti, with parliamentary groups, meant to designate a candidate for the prime minister position, were postponed for Friday. The former executive led by the Liberal Democrat Valeriu Streleţ was dismissed at the end of October through a no-confidence motion tabled by the Socialist and Communist opposition backed by the Democrats, which led to the dismantling of the so-called pro-European alliance made up of the Liberal Party, the Liberal Democratic Party and the Democratic Party. The Constitutional Court decided that the Moldovan Parliament should be dissolved unless it manages to validate a new government by the end of January 2016.



    (Translated by: E. Enache)



  • Uncertainty in Chisinau

    Uncertainty in Chisinau

    Political pundits in Chisinau have for some time now been talking
    about the end of an era. Six years after taking power, against the backdrop of
    street protests that put en end to the long pro-Russian, Communist governance
    of 2001 – 2009, the three-party government alliance, an avowed pro-western
    coalition, is more divided than ever. Seriously discredited by top-level
    corruption scandals and the increasing degradation of the living standards, the
    power in the Republic of Moldova, a state ranked as the poorest in Europe by
    many specialist classifications, has now to take the test of a no-confidence
    motion tabled by the leftist opposition.

    42 Socialist and Communist deputies
    are calling for the resignation of the Liberal Democrat PM Valeriu Strelet, who
    is accused of defending his former party chief, Vlad Filat, now arrested on
    corruption charges. The deputies also accuse Strelet of being involved in
    dubious affairs himself. The Socialist leader, Igor Dodon, one of the Kremlin’s
    favorites, also calls for the resignation of the country’s President Nicolae
    Timofti and for holding early elections, meant to reshuffle the administration
    from top to bottom.

    In turn, the former Moldovan Communist president, Vladimir
    Voronin, has suggested the setting up of a government of technocrats to be
    supported by a large parliamentary majority, but without the participation of
    the Liberal Democratic Party. For the no-confidence motion to pass, another 9
    votes are needed besides the half plus one of the votes of the 101 MPs. But,
    according to Radio Romania’s correspondents to Chisinau, after Filat’s arrest,
    disagreements within the governing alliance, self-styled as the Alliance for European
    Integration, have become more visible, and the Democrats and Liberals, partners
    of the Liberal Democratic Party, started to vote in Parliament alongside the
    Socialists and Communists on punctual issues.

    Furthermore, the speaker of
    Moldova’s Parliament, Andrian Candu, announced his party would decide next week
    if they would support or not the no-confidence motion against the government
    they are part of. Given the context, the Moldovan mass media has taken the
    opportunity to remind of the Communist past of some of the party’s top figures
    such as Marian Lupu, Dumitru Diacov, who was frequently accused of being a
    member of the Soviet secret services and Vlad Plahotniuc, the oligarch
    connected with the mafia and considered the de facto leader of the Democratic
    Party.


    Invested as PM this summer, Valeriu Strelet labels the no-confidence
    motion against his cabinet as an attempt to politically and economically
    destabilize the Republic of Moldova and to divert it from its European
    integration path. Romania is concerned with the worsening political situation
    in the neighboring Republic of Moldova, to which it has recently granted a loan
    worth 150 million euros. The PM Victor
    Ponta has warned that Romania will continue to support the Republic of Moldova
    if and only if they have a pro-western government. The breaking of the
    alliance, the Romanian PM has also warned, could create advantageous
    opportunities for the Russian Federation, which it will not fail to take.

  • Uncertainties in Chisinau

    Uncertainties in Chisinau

    The
    International Monetary Fund and the World Bank have suspended the funding of
    several projects in the Republic of Moldova, and have announced their relation
    with the country will stay frozen until the authorities take decisive measures
    to solve the problems in the banking system, where as much as one billion
    dollars mysteriously went missing. As the World Bank country manager for
    Moldova put it, it would be illogical and irresponsible for the World Bank to
    transfer its shareholders’ money into the Moldovan budget through the front
    door, while there is a risk for ever higher amounts of public money being lost
    out of the back door, through fraud and corruption in the banking sector. He
    also added that the ex-Soviet state will no longer receive the 45 million US
    dollars for budgetary support in 2015.


    In turn, the EU has warned that it might cut down the funding for the
    judicial reform, as Moldovan authorities have failed to fulfil their
    commitments. They have blocked legislation on the National Integrity
    Commission, designed to ensure its independence from political control. I am
    very disappointed, said the head of the EU Delegation in Chisinau, Pirkka
    Tapiola. Under these circumstances, analysts warn, the Republic of Moldova may
    default on payments in less than two months. To make matters even worse, there
    is no one to manage this crisis, because the small republic still lacks a
    government. Accused of forging his high-school graduation diploma, the prime
    minister, Chiril Gaburici, resigned a week ago, and the entire cabinet
    followed. With drastically limited powers, the ministers now only handle
    current matters, until a new cabinet is sworn in.


    The most disappointed with the downpour of bad news is Romania, which has
    been a steady and active supporter of Moldova’s European aspirations. While in
    Moldova to plead for the rapid formation of a new government, the Romanian
    Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu said a new governmental coalition would
    guarantee the country’s firm pro-European commitment and determination to carry
    on democratic reforms, as expected by its citizens, and to ensure Moldova’s
    stability. On Wednesday, Aurescu was received by the Moldovan President Nicolae
    Timofti, on which occasion he emphasised the importance of political stability,
    as a prerequisite for the country’s progress towards reforms and European
    integration.

    With their image severely affected by the disastrous performance
    of the Gaburici government, the leaders of the minority governmental coalition,
    made up of Democrats and Liberal Democrats, are considering the inclusion in
    the Executive of the third pro-European party in Parliament, the Liberals.
    Analysts see this as a solution, because the Moldovan Liberals are the most
    determined supporters of the European values, of closer ties with Bucharest and
    of the fight against corruption, for the success of which they went as far as
    to ask that a prosecutor general be brought from Romania.