Radio România Internațional

Tag: reorganization

  • Changes in the Romanian Police

    Changes in the Romanian Police

    The Romanian Police will be reorganized. The announcement was made by the Interior Minister Cătălin Predoiu on the occasion of the presentation of the conclusions of the Inspection Body in the case of the tragedy in the seaside resort of 2 Mai, where a 19-year-old drugged driver killed two young people and injured three others who were walking on the side of the road. He had been stopped in traffic by the police about three hours before the road accident and taken to the police station where, after having been tested for alcohol and the result came out negative, he was allowed to go. In this context, Cătălin Predoiu stated that the change will start from the Constanța Police Inspectorate, where the battle with crime “has been lost” in recent years. In this context, he announced that a preliminary investigation was ordered for negligence in the case of several officers involved in the mishandling of the 2 Mai case. Among those targeted is also the head of the County Police, Adrian Glugă, who has actually requested his release from office. The minister promises a complete resetting of the entire law enforcement apparatus within the structures of the Interior Ministry and of the structure of the Ministry per se.



    “We will start this resetting not through strategies and theories, but through concrete measures applied on the ground, from the street, where the citizen must be protected. We will start from Constanţa county and gradually expand it throughout the country. Constanţa County, alongside Bucharest, is one of the most difficult communities from the point of view of law enforcement and the challenges posed by the crime phenomenon, minister Cătălin Predoiu emphasized. At the same time, the minister wants more changes to the road traffic legislation, saying that he intends to militarize all the educational institutions of the Interior Ministry and that he will rethink the National Anti-Drug Agency, in relation to the evolution of consumption in Romania. In this sense, Cătălin Predoiu promises to co-opt the best specialists. Thus, the Police Academy and the school for police officers of the Romanian Police, the Border Police, the Gendarmerie, the centers for the training and application of the status of military personnel at the level of all these educational institutions will be reorganized.



    In this context, the Justice Minister Alina Gorghiu said that the fight against the drug phenomenon requires a joint effort and added that the number of prosecutors currently dealing with drug cases is very small. She also referred to the tightening of punishments for those who get behind the wheel after consuming alcohol or drugs, and to the part of education related to the prevention of drug consumption. According to the Justice Minister, almost 4,700 drug-related cases were resolved this year in Romania, although only 14 prosecutors are active in the section for combating drug trafficking in the central structure of DIICOT — the Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism. Currently, they are working on 7,000 drug-related cases, of which 2,700 were opened in the first six months of the year. (LS)

  • Reorganization on the political scene

    Reorganization on the political scene

    The leftist governing coalition made up of the Social Democratic Party and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats — ALDE will replace the interior and foreign ministers, the Social Democratic leaders decided on Monday. The interior minister Carmen Dan will be replaced by PSD senator Nicolae Moga. Considered a close collaborator of the former Social Democratic leader Liviu Dragnea who is currently serving time in prison for corruption, Carmen Dan resigned before the party decided on her replacement, criticizing the leadership for having given in to pressures from president Klaus Iohannis. The foreign minister Teodor Melescanu will be replaced by Ramona Manescu from ALDE.



    Carmen Dan and Teodor Melescanu were harshly criticized by the president for the way in which they organized the EP elections in May. Melescanu was mainly blamed for the problems encountered by the Diaspora in the voting process, as many Romanian citizens queued for many hours without being able to cast their vote. Carmen Dan was blamed for the disproportionate intervention of the gendarmes during the anti-government protests of August 2018. The PM Viorica Dancila explained that the two ministers lost their political support due to an unfavorable public perception. The new secretary general of PSD Mihai Fifor has been proposed for the position of vice prime minister for strategic partnerships.



    The PSD leadership has also made another important decision with an impact on the pre-elections political landscape: they will have their own candidate for the October presidential election. They want this person to be supported by ALDE and Pro Romania, a dissident party created by the former Social Democratic PM and leader Victor Ponta. ALDE representatives feel somehow betrayed in their aspirations and replied that they would support their own leader Calin Popescu Tariceanu, who is perceived as a powerful common candidate even by some PSD members. PSD is to designate its presidential candidate next week.



    According to commentators, a big party needs its own candidate in the presidential election, but none of them can identify one with real chances to defeat the big favorite in the race, the incumbent president Klaus Iohannis. From this perceptive, things are crystal clear for the National Liberal Party: they will support Iohannis all the way through.



    A paradox in the presidential election context could be the emergence of a challenger to Iohannis that comes from the right of the political spectrum and not from the left. The congress of the Save Romania Union party- USR, in opposition, designated their leader, Dan Barna, as presidential candidate. After USR’s ally PLUS designates their candidate too, most probably Dacian Ciolos, a former technocratic prime minister, the two parties that set up a successful alliance at the EP elections, will have to designate a common candidate. USR and PLUS want to present a president-prime minister tandem for the autumn presidential election. (Translation by L. Simion)

  • TAROM Reorganization

    TAROM Reorganization

    Established in
    1954 and subordinated to the Ministry of Transports, the Romanian National Air
    Transport Company TAROM aims to become the biggest airline on the local market.
    This is an ambitious plan given that 2017 was not very good for TAROM. In fact,
    the company had seen considerable losses for the previous ten years. Last year
    alone, for example, losses stood at 42 million euros. Oversized staff, planes
    with technical problems, the elimination of a number of flights and the
    retirement of two of its aircraft are some of the causes of TAROM’s decline.

    Competition from low-budget airlines, ineffective ticketing and growing customer dissatisfaction also
    led to a loss in the market share. The company has some 2,000 employees, of
    whom 70% are related to which each other through family ties or are connected
    in some way, and, according to a report by the oversight body of the former
    prime minister Mihai Tudose’s cabinet, was sabotaged from within, with its
    employees exchanging emails with other employees detailing the company’s
    strategy with regard to taking over certain flights. Moreover, according to the
    state institutions, TAROM’s maintenance and repairing costs were 40% higher
    than those of any other company in Europe.

    The company had no less than 5
    managers in 2017 alone. The fifth and current manager, Wolff Werner-Wilhelm,
    says his team has managed to cut expenses by 2.7 million euros last year by
    streamlining the company’s activity. Now undergoing a process of re-evaluation
    and reorganization, TAROM has big plans, and, according to its draft income and
    expenditure budget for 2018, may see a profit at the end of the year. Funds
    have also been allocated for investments. Under the new governing programme for
    2018-2020 published at the end of January, the urgent renewal of the TAROM
    fleet through the lease of 27 modern planes and the launch of new regional
    flights and even courier flights to the US and Asia are among the measures
    meant to put the company back on the right track. New domestic flights are
    already being launched and the first two new planes are to arrive over the next
    few weeks.