Radio România Internațional

Tag: Social Democratic Party

  • A new president for the ruling party

    A new president for the ruling party

    The members of the main ruling party in Romania, the Social Democratic Party, voted in internal elections to choose the party president. It was for the first time in the partys history that the leader was chosen directly, by the votes cast by over 500,000 party members and not by their representatives in Congress. The elections didnt produce any surprising results, as Liviu Dragnea, who had been interim party president for a couple of weeks, was the only candidate for the position. After the ballot, Dragnea said he would unhesitantly complete and comply with the commitments he had made, taking the risk of producing discontent among the Social Democrats. He has also said he will present a political program at the Social Democratic Party Congress, scheduled for October 18, making public his intention to touch upon both the achievements and mistakes made in recent years and to call for a vote of confidence for this political program. Liviu Dragnea:



    “I feel I have a huge responsibility, following this vote. On the one hand, I think I have the obligation not to repeat the mistakes that have been made within this party, of no longer making compromises that have eroded this party, of doing everything in my power for this party to truly represent the Romanian left wing, for this party to assume and observe the fundamental principles of the left wing: solidarity, social justice, equality of chances, as well as social and economic progress.



    The winner of the internal elections in the Social Democratic Party and his new leadership team will be validated at the party congress due later this week. Attending will also be the founder of the party, Ion Iliescu. The honorary president of the Social Democratic Party, Ion Iliescu, has criticised the way the Social Democrats decided to elect the new party president. In his opinion, calling to the polls all party members, to elect their leader, was reminiscent of the communist times.



    In Congress, Prime Minister Victor Ponta will present a report on his term at the helm of the Social Democratic Party, a position that he left vacant in order to solve his legal problems. Prosecuted by the National Anti-Corruption Directorate, Victor Ponta is accused of forgery in deeds under private signature, accessory to tax evasion and money laundering in a file on the conclusion of legal assistance contracts for the energy companies Turceni and Rovinari in southern Romania. The new president of the Social Democratic Party isnt exempt from legal problems either. Liviu Dragnea received a one-year suspended sentence for having influenced voting in the 2012 referendum for the impeachment of the then president, Traian Basescu. The appeal in this case is scheduled for November.


  • October 10, 2015 UPDATE

    October 10, 2015 UPDATE

    Romania firmly condemns the attacks in Ankara and restates its full support for Turkey, Romanian President Klaus Iohannis said on Saturday. The Romanian Foreign Ministry offered condolences to the Turkish authorities, the Turkish people and the victims’ families. In her turn, the EUs high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, Federica Mogherini, called on Turkey “to stand united against terrorists and against all those who try to destabilize a country that is facing many threats.” In Ankara, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan firmly condammned the blasts that killed at least 85 people and injured another 185. The explosions took place near the citys central train station as people gathered for a march asking for an end to the conflict between the Turkish government and the Kurdish militant group the PKK. A ceasefire agreement between the two parties expired in July and there have been regular attacks from both sides since then. The PKK is fighting for the territorial independence of the Kurds.




    An IMF delegation will travel to Romania next week for talks with the Bucharest authorities on the country’s budget in 2016 and the prospect of another precautionary agreement with Romania. The visit takes place against the background of the IMF having recently revised upwards its economic forecast on Romania. Thus, the country’s GDP is estimated to go up by 3.4% this year and by 3.9% in 2016. Romania’s fourth consecutive agreement with the IMF expired last month. The precautionary agreement was worth 2 billion euros but the Bucharest authorities did not access the funds. Romanian Finance Minister, Eugen Teodorovici, has recently stated that the country will officially ask for another agreement to be signed with the IMF.




    On Sunday the Social Democratic Party (PSD), the main party in the governing coalition in Romania will elect its president. More than 530 thousand members are expected to cast their vote. The only candidate to the party’s presidency is Liviu Dragnea, currently interim president of the party. He took over the presidency of PSD in July 2015, when Prime Minister Victor Ponta, the then party president, resigned his position as head of the party following the corruption scandal in which he is involved. The PM Victor Ponta has been prosecuted being accused of forgery, accessory to tax evasion and money laundering. After internal elections, the Social Democrats will meet in an extraordinary congress on October 18.




    Radio Romania’s Children Choir, conducted by Voicu Popescu, held a concert on Saturday, in Munich, as part of a choral music festival entitled “Let the Peoples Sing”. Radio Romania’s Children Choir, that qualified to the final alongside 8 other competitors from all over the world will perform tomorrow as part of the “Children and Youth Choirs” category. This year, Radio Romania’s Children Choir celebrates its 70th anniversary.




    Presiding over a massive military parade in Phenian, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said his country was “fully ready” to defend itself against any U.S. threat. In a celebration to mark the 70th anniversary of the ruling Workers Party, hundreds of troops marched across the country’s main square, which was festooned with national and party flags. The North Korean leader said the Workers Party members were a “source of miracle” as they turned the country into a socialist power, which was both independent and able to protect itself from military threat. Phenian already carried out three nuclear tests, in 2006, 2009 and 2013 and says it’s preparing for a fourth one, in spite of the international sanctions in place.




    Romania’s national football squad will be up against the Faeroe Islands on Sunday. On Thursday the Romanians were held to a one-all draw by Finland. Northern Ireland has won the preliminary group. In order to book its ticket for Euro 2016, Romania is in dire need of a win in the match against the Faeroe Islands on Sunday, which is its last group stage fixture. In another move, Romanias national youth team defeated Luxembourg in an away match on Friday, counting towards the preliminaries of the European Under-21 Championship, scheduled for 2017. Bulgaria ranks first in this group, followed by Romania and Wales.




    On Sunday, Romania’s rugby team is playing its last match at the World Rugby Cup, underway in England and Wales. In Exeter, on Sandy Park stadium, the Oaks will go up against Italy. The stake of the game is the group’s third position, which guarantees qualification to the World Cup scheduled for 2019 in Japan. The Romanians lost to Ireland and France but came back from nil-15 to beat Canada in their last match in Pool D, which was officially recorded as the biggest comeback in World Cup history.

  • October 10, 2015

    October 10, 2015

    An IMF delegation will travel to Romania next week for talks with the Bucharest authorities on the country’s budget in 2016 and the prospect of another precautionary agreement with Romania. The visit takes place against the background of the IMF having recently revised upwards its economic forecast on Romania. Thus, the country’s GDP is estimated to go up by 3.4% this year and by 3.9% in 2016. Romania’s fourth consecutive agreement with the IMF expired last month. The precautionary agreement was worth 2 billion euros but the Bucharest authorities did not access the funds. Romanian Finance Minister, Eugen Teodorovici, has recently stated that the country will officially ask for another agreement to be signed with the IMF.




    Radio Romania’s Children Choir, conducted by Voicu Popescu, is today holding a concert in Munich as part of a choral music festival entitled “Let the Peoples Sing”. Radio Romania’s Children Choir, that qualified to the final alongside 8 other competitors from all over the world will perform tomorrow as part of the “Children and Youth Choirs” category.




    On Sunday the Social Democratic Party (PSD), the main party in the governing coalition in Romania will elect its president. More than 530 thousand members are expected to cast their vote. The only candidate to the party’s presidency is Liviu Dragnea, currently interim president of the party. He took over the presidency of PSD in July 2015, when Prime Minister Victor Ponta, the then party president, resigned his position as head of the party following the corruption scandal in which he is involved. The PM Victor Ponta has been prosecuted being accused of forgery, accessory to tax evasion and money laundering. After internal elections, the Social Democrats will meet in an extraordinary congress on October 18.




    Two explosions at a peace rally in the Turkish capital Ankara have killed at least 30 people, and have injured another 130. The blasts took place near the citys central train station as people gathered for a march asking for an end to the conflict between the Turkish government and the Kurdish militant group the PKK. A ceasefire agreement between the two parties expired in July and there have been regular attacks from both sides since then. Over 120 members of the Turkish security forces and hundreds of Kurdish militants have been killed. The PKK is fighting for the territorial independence of the Kurds, who make up the fourth-largest ethnic group in the Middle East.




    Presiding over a massive military parade in Phenian, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said his country was “fully ready” to defend itself against any U.S. threat. In a celebration to mark the 70th anniversary of the ruling Workers Party, hundreds of troops marched across the country’s main square, which was festooned with national and party flags. The North Korean leader said the Workers Party members were a “source of miracle” as they turned the country into a socialist power, which was also independent and able to protect itself from military threat. Phenian already carried out three nuclear tests, in 2006, 2009 and 2013 and says it’s preparing for a fourth one, in spite of the international sanctions in place.

  • October 9, 2015

    October 9, 2015

    The Rapid Reaction Force in Central and Eastern Europe will be doubled, to reach 40,000 strong, and the ultra-rapid response structure will be able to manage any threat within a maximum of 48 hours, the NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg announced at the NATO summit held in Brussels on Thursday. Also, the North-Atlantic Alliance decided the setting up of two additional command centres, in Slovakia and Hungary, adding to the existing ones in Romania, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland and Bulgaria. The tensions between Russia and NATO have grown higher after Russian fighters conducted air strikes on Syria, in support for Bashar al-Assads regime, claiming they were attacking Islamic State positions. The US and NATO have accused Russia of having attacked positions of the insurgents supported by the West. Since March 2011, Syria has been facing a growing number of violently repressed riots and a military conflict between the security services subordinated to Bashar al-Assad, the opposition forces and terrorist groups, including the Islamic State Sunni organization. The conflicts death toll has already exceeded 250,000.



    Elections for the seat of Social Democratic Party President are due this Sunday. Over 530,000 party members are expected to the polls, to elect the new leader of the main party in the ruling coalition in Romania. The only candidate in the race is the current interim-president Liviu Dragnea. He took the reigns of the party in July 2015, when the former president and current Prime Minister of Romania, Victor Ponta, stepped down because of the corruption scandal he was involved in. The PM was prosecuted for forgery, accessory to tax evasion and money laundering. After the internal elections, the Social-Democrats will gather at the extraordinary party congress scheduled for October 18th.



    Today is the Day of Commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust in Romania. 74 years ago, on October 9th, the regime led by Marshall Ion Antonescu, an ally to Nazi Germany, started deporting the Jews in eastern Romania to the occupied Soviet territories, an action that claimed over 250 thousand lives, according to statistics. Only 10% of the deported ones came back home. The “Elie Wiesel” National Institute for the Study of the Holocaust in Romania marks the event, as well as its 10th anniversary, through a conference titled The Intellectual Elite and the Memory of the Holocaust in Romania”. Yesterday in Bucharest, Romanias president Klaus Iohannis, the Speaker of the Israeli Parliament Yuli Yoel Edelstein, members of the Jewish Communities Federation in Romania and Holocaust survivors took part in a ceremony held at the Holocaust Victims Monument.



    The Swedish Academy will today announce the winner of the Nobel Prize for Peace, the only one awarded by Norway, in keeping with the wish of the founder of these awards, Alfred Nobel. The nominees include German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who was recommended for her role in managing the refugee crisis in Europe, and Pope Francis, for his support in reestablishing the ties between the US and Cuba, the BBC reports. Last year, the prize went to the young Pakistani Malala Yousafzai, for her heroic fight through which she became a symbol of young womens right to education, and to the Indian Kailash Satyarthi, for the fight against child exploitation.



    The EU has decided to add 400 million Euros to the fund earmarked for the management of the migrant crisis in Europe, Associated Press reports. The decision was made at Thursdays Justice and Home Affairs Council in Brussels. 300 million Euros are to be used to help the Syrian refugees who are currently in countries outside the EU, namely Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan. Also, some of the money will be used to set up 120 positions within three European agencies: FRONTEX – the European Agency for the Management of Operational Cooperation at the External Borders of the Member States of the European Union, EASO – the agency for implementation of the Common European Asylum System and EUROPOL. Some 56 million Euros will be used for humanitarian aid.



    Romanias national football squad on Thursday night were held to a one-all draw by the similar team of Finland. The game counted as Romanias last-but-one preliminary stage fixture ahead of EURO 2016. Finland had the lead for the most part of the game, and it was not until extra time that Romania managed to draw level, thus securing its runner-up position in the group, which entitles them to a straight qualification, one point ahead of Hungary. Northern Ireland has won the preliminary group. In order to book its ticket for Euro 2016, Romania is in dire need of a win in the match against Faeroe Island this coming Sunday, which is its last group stage fixture. In another move, Romanias national youth team in Luxembourg on Friday will be playing a game counting towards the preliminaries of the European Under-21 Championship, scheduled for 2017. In its previous group fixtures, Romania won the double-legged tie against Armenia and sustained a home defeat against Bulgaria.



    On Sunday, Romanias national rugby team will play its last game at the World Cup hosted by England and Wales, against the Italian squad. A victory would secure them qualification to the 2019 World Championships in France. The Romanian rugby players, also known as The Oaks have lost to Ireland and France this year, but managed to defeat Canada, in a match in which they overturned a 15-point deficit, which is the biggest comeback in the World Cup history.

  • The Social Democratic Party Has a New President

    The Social Democratic Party Has a New President

    Until the congress
    scheduled for November, the Social Democrats have a new leader, following Prime
    Minister Victor Ponta’s decision to step down as party president, a position he
    had been holding for five years. The Prime Minister wants to prove his
    innocence in the case in which he is being prosecuted for forgery, tax evasion
    and money laundering, which he allegedly committed as a lawyer, back in 2007.
    The main culprit in this case is his
    party colleague Dan Sova, a former Transport Minister in the Ponta Government.
    Gathered in Bucharest on Wednesday, the members of the Social Democratic Party’s
    National Executive Committee decided that Livu Dragnea was the most suitable to
    be interim president of the party and his opponent in the race for the party
    leadership, Rovana Plumb, would remain president of the party’s National
    Council. As head of the party, Liviu Dragnea has voiced assurances that the
    party is united and, together with its governing partners – the National Union
    for the Progress of Romania, headed by Gabriel Oprea, and the newly established Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for
    Europe – will continue to support the government. Liviu Dragnea:


    I’ve
    had a phone conversation with Mr.
    Oprea, who supports the formula adopted by the National Executive
    Committee, and I want to assure him of our full and honest collaboration. We
    want to convey the same message to the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for
    Europe: the Social Democratic Party continues to be their fair and loyal
    partner and together we can ensure the governing of this country in a way that
    support its economic development


    Electing Liviu Dragnea as interim
    president of the Social Democratic Party renders the party more stable, Gabriel
    Oprea has stated, also reiterating his support for Prime Minister Victor Ponta
    and also for the president of the country, Klaus Iohannis, with regard to all
    the projects that pertain to national security. In turn, the co-president of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats
    for Europe, Daniel Constantin, has stated that the partnership with the Social
    Democratic Party goes on. On the other side of the barricade, the co-president
    of the opposition Liberal Party, Alina Gorghiu, believes that, despite the
    public statements, the Social Democratic Party is marred by internal conflicts:


    I
    don’t thing that the parties involved will be reconciled any time soon. They
    are all focused on the fight for supremacy within the party, and,
    unfortunately, governing the country has turned into a marginal matter.
    Fighting and splitting within a party translates into insecurity, and we want to
    be an alternative to governing also through the unity of this construction.


    Alina Gorghiu believes that the
    situation within the Social Democratic Party will affect the process of
    governing and the country needs another
    prime minister.

  • The Romanian Prime Minister Steps down as Leader of the Social Democratic Party

    The Romanian Prime Minister Steps down as Leader of the Social Democratic Party

    After 5 and a half
    years as leader of the biggest party in Romania, Victor Ponta has decided to
    step down and take no position within the Social Democratic Party until, as he
    says in a Facebook message posted on Sunday,
    he proves his innocence in the case in which the National Anticorruption
    Directorate has accused him of corruption. Currently the prime minister is
    being prosecuted for forgery, tax evasion and money laundering, which he
    allegedly committed while a lawyer. The case also involves his party colleague,
    Senator Dan Sova.

    In the same Facebook message, Ponta says that other members
    of the ruling Social Democratic Party too have temporarily given up their
    political positions within the party until they have clarified their legal
    situation, and he cannot ask the others to make such a sacrifice, without
    making it himself. This is his first step backwards following November’s
    presidential elections, the moment that actually marked the decline of one of
    the most prominent young politicians in Romania. The resounding failure in the
    race for the office of president of the country, caused by a tactical error,
    that of treating voters abroad with contempt, has weakened his position within
    the party.

    Still, despite the party tradition, which says that if the leader of
    the party loses the election, he also loses the position of head of party,
    Victor Ponta miraculously managed to ease tensions within the Social Democratic
    Party and stay president. That was an absolute first in Romania, which,
    unfortunately, was followed by another one, starring the same Victor Ponta. He
    became the first acting head of government to be prosecuted for corruption.
    Romania’s President Klaus Iohannis and the right-wing opposition called on
    Ponta to resign and thus avoid having Romania suffer from a bad image, the more
    so as the country was making efforts to convince its western partners that the
    fight against corruption was not phony.

    However, Ponta refused to do so, and
    played a trick, which weakened even more his political position. On the very
    same day when he was supposed to be heard by the anticorruption prosecutors,
    the prime minister left to Turkey to have his knee operated on. He has now
    finally returned, one month later. In the meantime, the coalition formed around
    the Social Democratic Party has suffered one first major blow: the National
    Union for the Progress of Romania, member of the coalition, has endorsed Mihai
    Razvan Ungureanu as head of the Foreign Intelligence Service.


    Following the announcement that he
    steps down as president of the Social Democratic Party, the Liberal Party has
    again called on Ponta to also step down as prime minister. Victor Ponta has
    understood that his remaining president of the Social Democratic Party damages
    the image of the party, so, logically, he should also understand that the
    damage for the Government and for Romania is even bigger said the liberal
    co-president Alina Gorghiu. The story, therefore, might have the ending desired
    by the liberals, even in the short-run. Without him being a leader of the
    Social Democratic Party, Victor Ponta risks being affected by major
    consequences, both with regard to his authority within the government and also
    within he coalition which seems so far from the initial harmony.

  • Political Parties and the Anti-Corruption Campaign

    Seriously compromised by huge corruption scandals and nepotism and perceived by the general public and the media as incompetent and unwilling to engage in effective communication with the voters, Romanian politicians are doing their best to improve their public image. With 2015 not being an election year, this would be a perfect time for parties to undergo a thorough reform ahead of next year’s local and parliamentary elections.



    The leaders of the Social Democratic Party, the largest and most influential party in the left-of-centre government, convened last week, for the first time since their representative Prime Minister Victor Ponta lost the presidential elections, to impose sanctions on the party’s corrupt members. The Social Democratic leaders decided at the meeting that, party members against whom criminal proceedings are initiated will lose their position within the Government and the Parliament’s leading posts, while those in temporary police custody will automatically lose their political position within the party.



    PM Victor Ponta has admitted that his party’s main weakness is precisely corruption.



    Victor Ponta: “Let’s prove people that we got their message. The Social Democratic Party is the best party in power, but as long as we keep being accused of breaking integrity laws and of refusing to expose the members who are corrupt or suspected of corruption, we cannot win people’s trust and respect.”



    In their turn, the leaders of the National Liberal Party, the most important party in the centre-right opposition, have announced they have been working on a new party statute, to include drastic sanctions against lawbreakers. The new regulation stipulates that convicted Liberals will be expelled from the party while those held in temporary police custody will be suspended from all public positions. The Liberals’ co-president Alina Gorghiu:



    Alina Gorghiu: “This party integrity principle will apply to all members, irrespective of their public position.”



    Alina Gorghiu has also said that a set of integrity criteria will be drawn up in two or three weeks at the most. These decisions by Romania’s largest parties come after tens of government ministers, MPs, county council presidents and mayors, most of them Social Democrats and Liberals, have been prosecuted and sentenced for corruption offences. In the local administration, almost half of the counties and most of the big cities have been left without the county council presidents and the mayors elected in 2012. As for the central administration, Romania has, as the media put it, one acting Government and two or three governments behind bars.

  • The Romanian political scene after the presidential elections

    The Romanian political scene after the presidential elections

    Three high-profile members of the Social Democratic Party, Mircea Geoana, Marian Vanghelie and Dan Sova, were expelled on Thursday from the main party in the ruling coalition. They were primarily accused of breaching the principle of party unity. The decision was made in the first meeting of the Social Democrat leaders after Victor Ponta’s failure in the presidential elections of mid-November. Surprisingly enough, the party did not punish the people responsible for losing the elections, starting with Victor Ponta, who accepted full responsibility for his failure.



    The Social Democrats also decided to hold a National Council and Congress next spring, in order to elect the new leaders of this left-of-centre party and to come up with a new political project for Romania for the coming 5 years.



    The next important test for the Social Democratic Party are the parliamentary elections due in 2016, but until then, the party intends to stay in power, as prime minister Victor Ponta explained:



    “We intend to present Parliament with a reshuffled cabinet and the budget for 2015, so as to carry on the good projects we have launched.”




    The prime minister also said his government would pay more attention to fields like education, healthcare and infrastructure. As regards the overall image of his party, Victor Ponta said its strategists would have to find a solution to prove that the Social Democratic Party has broken with its communist past and that it is a reformed, European political entity.



    While their leader’s electoral failure did not prompt the Social Democrats to take measures against those responsible, things were different with their partners in the ruling coalition, the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania. Its president Kelemen Hunor on Thursday made public the decision of the party’s Standing Council to leave the ruling coalition, given that 80% of ethnic Hungarian voters supported the Liberal candidate Klaus Iohannis in the second round of the presidential elections. Kelemen Hunor:



    “We believe the vote in both the first and the second round of the presidential elections was a very clear message from our voters, and will not be looking for further explanations. We decided to strengthen our relationship with our voters.”



    The leader of the ethnic Hungarians in Romania also said the decision is not likely to trigger political instability, given that the Social Democrats and their other partners will still have a parliamentary majority. Moreover, the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians vowed to support any measures that would benefit Romania’s citizens, including the Hungarian community.

  • Dismissals and resignations within the Social Democratic Party

    The Romanian government relies on the Social Democratic Party, which, joined by the Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania, the National Union for the Progress of Romania, and the Conservative Party, enjoys a comfortable majority in Parliament. It leads most of the county councils and has the largest number of mayors elected across the country. All it is missing now is the Presidency, the pearl in the crown for a semi-presidential system with a voter pool that still has a paternalistic mentality, according to which the head of state bears the guilt or the merit for everything that goes on in the country.



    Faced with a divided centre-right opposition with low calibre candidates, Social Democrat leader, Prime Minister Victor Ponta, is the favourite in the presidential election next month, according to polls. The game, however, is not yet decided, as the left seems to make more and more mistakes, and seems to be on the verge of making some big mistake. In order to improve their image, in Tuesday’s emergency meeting, the Social Democrats decided to suspend three of their emblematic leaders from all the functions they held within the party. Here is SDP president Victor Ponta himself:



    “All three are suspended from all the positions they held within the party, and in our first Executive Committee meeting we will debate whether their actions have caused damage or not in the election campaign. Whoever makes mistakes pays for them, and if they have problems, they have to deal with them, as everyone else focuses on what we have to do in governance, in management at the local level and in the election campaign.”



    Colourful Bucharest sector mayor Marian Vanghelie, and Sebastian Ghita, a millionaire member of parliament, were sanctioned for heavy language used during exchanges lately. Also suspended was the party spokesperson himself, Senator Dan Sova, who was indicted Monday by anti-corruption prosecutors for influence peddling.



    Deputy Viorel Hrebenciuc, former leader of the Social Democratic group in Parliament, is being investigated in the same case. He resigned from Parliament, after being accused by prosecutors of using his influence with Sova to persuade the latter to introduce a bill in parliament to grant amnesty and pardons for several cases of corruption, promising in exchange to help him get the chairmanship of the party. Hrebenciuc, one of the oldest and most influential members of the post-communist left, is also under investigation for influence peddling in the case of the retrocession of tens of thousands of hectares of forest, a case in which prosecutors claim the state incurred losses worth over 300 million Euros.



    Prime Minister Ponta hailed his resignation, saying that the former MP had made this decision to protect the SDP and Parliament from attacks in the election campaign. Analysts believe that the party may resort to even further ritual sacrifices in order to increase their chances to grab the Presidency, which they haven’t held in 14 years.