Radio România Internațional

Tag: Senate Speaker Calin Popescu-Tariceanu

  • November 8, 2018 UPDATE

    November 8, 2018 UPDATE

    MEETING – The Romanian Interior Minister Carmen Dan is attending in Washington the EU-US Justice and Home Affairs Ministerial Meeting. At the meeting, Carmen Dan will present Romanias priorities in the field during its presidency of the EU Council in the first half of next year. The EU is represented in Washington by the Austrian ministers of the interior and justice, on behalf of the current Presidency of the Council of the European Union, the members of the delegation representing Romania, the country that is to take over the Presidency in January 2019, and the European Commissioners for migration, home affairs and security.



    ACCUSATION – The National Anticorruption Directorate claims that the Speaker of the Romanian Senate, Calin Popescu-Tariceanu, indirectly received 800,000 USD dollars worth of material benefits from an Austrian company while he was Romanias Prime Minister, in 2007-2008. The amount accounted for a 10% commission from the value of addenda and was used for the benefit of the dignitary. The case was opened in 2018, by bringing together three criminal cases, of which one was taken over by the anticorruption prosecutors, at the request of the Austrian judicial authorities. In a communiqué issued at the request of Agerpress News Agency, the Directorate also mentions the fact that, in keeping with the legal and constitutional provisions in force, prosecuting Tariceanu for bribe-taking is possible only if endorsed by the Senate. Previously, Calin Popescu-Tariceanu had stated the Government made no payment in relation to the Microsoft licenses during his term as prime-minister. We recall that several people, including ministers, have been prosecuted in the so-called Microsoft case, for acts of corruption in relation to license agreements concluded for schools, worth hundreds of millions of dollars.



    EC – On Thursday, the European Commission decided to send Romania a formal letter calling on the Romanian authorities to stop using the split VAT payment mechanism. According to the Commission, the mechanism runs counter to both the EU regulations in the field and the freedom to provide services. In another move, also on Thursday, the Commission noted that an energy producer in Romania – the Hunedoara Energy Complex – has received incompatible state aid amounting to 60 million Euros. According to the EC Representation in Romania, the state must recover the illegal aid and the related interests.



    JUDGE PANELS – On Friday, the High Court of Cassation and Justice will designate, by drawing lots, the members of the five-judge panels for 2018. There are four panels consisting of five judges, two for criminal and two for civil matters. On Wednesday, the Constitutional Court admitted the notification filed by prime-minister Viorica Dancila regarding the formation of the 5-judge panels and decided there was a constitutional conflict between Parliament and the High court of Cassation and Justice. The Constitutional Court has decided that the latter should urgently take measures to form the 5-judge panels.



    EPP – On Thursday, the German politician Manfred Weber was elected candidate of the European Peoples Party (EPP) for the seat of president of the future European Commission (2019-2024). Weber, who got 80% of the votes, defeated the Finish Alexander Stubb. The Romanian parties members of EPP, the National Liberal Party, the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians and Peoples Movement Party supported Weber. On Wednesday, the first day of the Congress, EPP adopted a resolution calling for the observance of the EUs fundamental values. The document reads that nationalist and populist extremism, disinformation, discrimination and failure to observe the rule of law are the biggest threats against freedom and democracy in Europe, after the fall of the Iron Curtain. We recall that the next EC is to be formed after next years elections for the European Parliament, due in spring.



    AIR BASE – On Friday, the Romanian Defense Minister Mihai Fifor and his Canadian counterpart Harjit Singh Sajjan pay a visit to the Mihail Kogalniceanu air-base in south-eastern Romania. According to the Romanian Defense Ministry, the two officials will meet with the Canadian detachment deployed in Romania. The 135 Canadian soldiers are taking part in air policing missions, under NATO command.



    HANDBALL – The Romanian mens handball team Dinamo Bucharest defeated Ademar Leon of Spain on home turf on Thursday, in a match part of Champions Leagues Group D. The victory brought Dinamo 10 points and made it top of the group. The main contenders for the qualification to the play-offs, are Ademar Leon, with 9 points, and Wisla Plock (Poland) and Elverum (Norway) with 8 points each. This is the third season for Dinamo Bucharest in the most important inter-club competition in the world.

  • Romania prepares for its first EU Council presidency

    Romania prepares for its first EU Council presidency

    Romania has
    started making preparations for its first EU Council presidency in the first
    six months of 2019. The government in Bucharest has established a national
    council for the preparation and exercise of Romania’s EU Council presidency, an
    action plan has been adopted and the foreign ministry has set up a special unit
    to work on this project. At a debate held on Wednesday by the foreign ministry,
    the participants assessed the context in which Romania will carry out its term,
    which will see new European Parliament elections, the UK’s leaving the European Union and
    negotiations on the next multi-annual financial framework. The Minister
    Delegate for European Affairs Ana Birchall said the presidency of the European
    Union was a national project for Romania.

    Ana Birchall: We will have to ensure a professional management and demonstrate our ability
    to propose compromise solutions that are acceptable for the member states and
    the Union’s institutions. We will have the opportunity to demonstrate our
    support for the European values and contribute directly to the consolidation
    process.


    The Eastern
    Partnership and the organisation of a summit in Romania, the Danube strategy
    and migration to the European Union are some of the issues Romania must cover
    during its presidency, said foreign minister Teodor Melescanu. He also pointed
    out that there are logistical problems related to the taking over of the rotating
    presidency, which would require the support of a number of state institutions,
    given that Romania will have to host hundreds of meetings, which is also an
    opportunity to promote the country’s political vision on the future of Europe.

    Prime minister Sorin Grindeanu too believes Romania has the opportunity to come
    with a new, dynamic approach that could help relaunch the European project
    during its EU Council presidency. According to the senate speaker Calin Popescu
    Tariceanu, Romania will benefit from more exposure during its 6-month
    presidency and must demonstrate that it is creative, energetic, modern and
    pro-European.


    Calin Popescu Tariceanu: Let us not forget that we are the seventh biggest country in the European
    Union so we must try to give our presidency a dimension that befits our country
    – we should neither try to be more than what we are and try to impress, nor see
    ourselves smaller than we are in reality.


    The debate in Bucharest was also attended by the
    ambassadors of Finland and Croatia, which will take over the EU rotating
    presidency after Romania.

  • September 15, 2016

    September 15, 2016

    RALLY — Romanian carriers are today staging a big rally in protest at the high civil liability insurance premiums. Over 5 thousand vehicles will be taken out to the streets of Bucharest and another 100 thousand across the country. Carriers want insurance premiums to reflect an average value of damages reported by the Financial Surveillance Authority. Negotiations with the Government had previously failed to settle on a ceiling for damages, while freezing insurance premiums, a measure sanctioned by the Competition Council, seemed to sit well with Romanian carriers, who have nevertheless voiced their reluctance pending the publication of the Government ordinance.




    ARREST – The Bucharest Tribunal has ordered the temporary 30-day arrest of a former officer with the Romanian Intelligence Service, Daniel Dragomir, for his involvement in the Black Cube case. According to prosecutors, Dragomir got in touch with representatives of the Israeli company BlackCube aiming to denigrate the people he considered responsible for his indictment, last year, by the National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA) on charges of money laundering and influence peddling. Dragomir allegedly paid the company BlackCube to spy on Laura Codruta Kovesi, the head of National-Anti-Corruption Directorate. Three Israeli citizens were indicted in the same case, of whom two were arrested and one managed to flee Romania.




    HEARING – The Senate Speaker Calin Popescu-Tariceanu has been herd by anti-corruption prosecutors this morning in a case involving the former deputy governor of the National Bank of Romania, Bogdan Olteanu. According to anti-corruption prosecutors, Olteanu received 1 million euros and other benefits from Sorin Ovidiu Vantu to use his influence and get the Government to name Liviu Mihaiu as governor of the Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve. This happened in 2008, when Olteanu was president of the Chamber of Deputies. According to the media, Liviu Mihaiu was appointed Danube Delta Governor in 2008 at Tariceanu’s order, who at he time was prime minister and leader of the National Liberal Party. Bogdan Olteanu is the first Central Bank official ever detained by prosecutors, but the investigation targets his activity before he took over this position, in 2009.




    UKRAINE – The German and French foreign ministers, Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Jean-Marc Ayrault, respectively, have today travelled to eastern Ukraine for the first time since the armed conflict started. The conflict between Russian-backed separatist rebels and Ukrainian government troops has killed almost 10 thousand people since it began in April 2014. The Minsk agreement brokered by France and Germany in February 2015 helped end large-scale battles, but smaller clashes have continued to claim lives and a political settlement has stalled.




    REFUGEES – German Chancellor Angela Merkel has today said that her country must find “viable solutions” to integrate refugees into the workforce faster, after German companies have hired less than 100 refugees out of more than 1 million who entered the country in 2015. Merkel’s open-door policy brought her harsh criticism and caused her the loss of citizens’ support. Merkels conservative Christian Democrats fell to third place in a recent state election, behind the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) and anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.




    FOOTBALL – Romanian football champion team Astra Giurgiu today take on Austria Vienna in the Europa League group stage debut fixture. Also part of the same group are Czech squad Viktoria Plzen and the famous Italian team AS Roma. Also on Thursday, vice-champions Steaua Bucharest play their debut group fixture against Turkish contenders Osmanlispor, away from home. The forthcoming fixtures will see Steaua taking on Spain’s Villareal and Swiss side FC Zurich. Astra Giurgiu and Steaua Bucharest reached the Europa League’s group stage having been eliminated from the preliminary stages of Europe’s most important inter-clubs competition, the Champions League. Also playing in the Europa League preliminaries, Viitorul Constanta in the southeast, Pandurii Targu Jiu in the southwest and CSMS Iasi in the east have in turn been edged out of the Europa League’s group stage.


    (Translated by Elena Enache)