Author: Elena Enache
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Romania will have a Drug Offenders Register
Romania will have a Drug Offenders Register as of January 1, 2025, after President Klaus Iohannis promulgated the law providing for its establishment. The project was proposed by the Liberals in September 2023 and was subsequently adopted by the Bucharest Senate at the end of last yea and by the Chamber of Deputies last month. Justice Minister Alina Gorghiu explained that this Register has a preventive role, and that through it the Police will be able to supervise and identify drug traffickers faster. Depending on the punishment they receive in Court, drug traffickers will be included in the Register from 5 to 20 years, so that the Police will know in which case there is a risk that the monitored person sells prohibited substances again, the minister said. Minors will not be included in the Register, except for the cases where a Court orders this following a criminal trial.
Alina Gorghiu added that the Drug Offenders Register is a means of identifying and monitoring people who have committed crimes in the sphere of drug trafficking, a useful tool in the fight against this scourge. According to the minister, the safety of Romanian citizens, especially of the young people, comes first, and combating drug trafficking remains a priority.
All institutions with attributions in the field must be involved in the effort to eradicate the scourge of drug use and drug trafficking, Interior Minister Cătălin Predoiu, said in turn. According to Predoiu, in addition to the effort to combat this plague, prevention and education are equally important. He announced that the states of the world would create a coalition, at the initiative of the United States, to combat drug trafficking, which has become a global phenomenon, given that no state can fight alone against this scourge. That is why, the minister also said, international cooperation is important in terms of combating it, being a long-term effort.
He also stated that, each year, in the world, 80 new types of drugs are produced by organized crime, and the Romanian Police is making efforts to adapt to the new tactics and strategies used by organized crime. He gave assurances that actions to combat drug trafficking are launched weekly in Romania. Last year alone, more than 1 ton of drugs was seized and the largest seizure of Ecstasy tablets in the history of anti-drug structures in Romania – more than 230,000 tablets – was made, Predoiu said. The Drug Offenders Register that Romania will have from next year will be organized by the Interior Ministry and kept by the units of the Romanian Police, through structures specialized in this field. (EE)
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March 18, 2024 UPDATE
AMMUNITION – PM Marcel Ciolacu Sunday night announced that Romania would have the most advanced ammunition powder production facility in Europe, in which the EU will also be a partner. Romania is set to receive EUR 47 mln in EU funding for this project implemented by the Romanian state-owned company Romarm jointly with Germany.
STRIKE – In Romania, local administration staff are on two-hour daily warning strike until the end of the week. For the rest of the working hours, they will be on a Japanese strike. Protests were also held one month ago, but were suspended after civil servants were promised solutions for their salary problems. In turn, healthcare employees say the 20% pay raise recently approved by the government is insufficient. Unionists in the trade sector, affiliated to the Cartel Alfa bloc, also picketed the labor ministry headquarters on Monday, to demand decent wages and working conditions.
RUSSIA – Vladimir Putin won the highest election score in the history of post-communist Russia, and secured another 6 years as president of the country he has been leading since late 1999. At midnight he thanked his supporters at his campaign office, where he gave a one-hour press conference saying his main challenge in this new term would be resolving tasks related with what he calls Russia’s “special military operation” in Ukraine. Russia’s elections were criticized around the world. The Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said it was obvious for anybody that “there is no evil Vladimir Putin will not commit” in order to extend his rule. In turn, the White House claimed the elections in Russia were neither free nor fair, given Putin’s track record of imprisoning his political opponents. Poland said the vote in Russia, held under extreme pressure, made it impossible for the election to be free and democratic. News agencies mention that under Vladimir Putin Russia was involved in several brutal wars, in Chechnya, Georgia, Syria and Ukraine, and the democratic system introduced after the fall of the Soviet Union has been replaced by a regime in which independent media have been forced out of the country and the opposition has been largely eliminated, with many of Putin’s critics assassinated, arrested or forced to leave the country.
VISIT – The United States Ambassador to Romania, Kathleen Kavalec, on Monday visited the site where the future modular nuclear power plant in Doicesti (south) is to be built. It is a project developed jointly by the Romanian state-owned company Nuclearelectrica and an American company. Kavalec said that the technology used in the construction of the modular plant is ‘safe’, and the project has the support of the US government. The unit would become operational in 2029, if the feasibility and performance studies establish that the construction site, a former thermal power plant, remains the best option. The Romanian Minister of Energy, Sebastian Burduja, said in turn that he was optimistic about the implementation of this project, the first of its kind in the world.
MOTION – The opposition party USR filed a simple motion against the Social-Democratic minister of agriculture, Florin Barbu, on Monday. USR says the minister has been treating disgruntled farmers with contempt since taking over the mandate and has not responded to Parliament’s requests for an activity report. Last week, USR called on Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu to immediately dismiss Barbu, following his statements in which he evoked, in a positive context, the name of the former communist dictator Nicolae Ceauşescu. (EE)
