15 September, 2015
News and Current Affairs
Daniela Budu, 15.09.2015, 11:59
Romanian President Klaus Iohannis took part today in Bucharest in a conference on the issue of the Romanian diaspora. Speaking of the exodus of intellectuals that affects the country, the president believes that the solution is recognizing diplomas. The head of state also showed that the Romanian authorities have a duty to make working abroad be an ‘issue of choice, not necessity’. As for Romanians who choose to stay abroad, Iohannis said that providing conditions for exercising the right to vote was essential. He expressed his hope that by the end of this session of Parliament voting from abroad would be regulated. To this end, the Electoral Law Commission will gather today to specify the conditions under which Romanians will vote next year. Proposals to amend electoral law went under debate after the 2014 presidential elections, when thousands of Romanians living abroad queued up for hours at the polls, some of them unable to cast their ballot, leading to serious disruptions.
Bucharest mayor Sorin Oprescu will be ousted in line with the Law on Local Public Administration after Monday’s final ruling by the Court of Appeals in favor of his preventive arrest. The national anti-corruption agency is investigating his allegedly taking a bribe as high as 25,000 Euros. According to the agency, between 2013 and 2015, Oprescu was part of a kickback ring.
On Tuesday Hungary announced that asylum seekers entering the EU through its border with Serbia risk expulsion in a few days, once new measures against the wave of refugees comes into effect. A number of tough laws on border security and new powers to expunge asylum seekers came into effect at midnight. The right leaning Hungarian government blocked the railway used by tens of thousands of Syrian refugees. The size of the wave started causing problems in Germany, which announced it would reinstate temporarily some border controls. Similar decisions have been issued in the Czech Republic, Austria, and Slovakia. On Monday, EU interior ministers have ruled that 40,000 refugees from Italy and Greece were to be relocated within the next two years. They did not make any decision with regard to the other 120,000 immigrants arrived in Europe from the Middle East and Africa. Bucharest will participate in the distribution mechanism by taking in over 1,705 asylum seekers from Italy and Greece, and 80 people more from outside the Union. Romania joins nine other EU states in refusing obligatory refugee quotas.
Minister of Education Sorin Campeanu is being questioned by the lower chamber of Parliament today in the issue of the state of the system of education as the new school year opens. This came as a request by the Liberals in the Chamber. On Monday, the minister said that the school year was off to a good start, in spite of problems, especially in terms of school infrastructure, textbooks and shifting curricula.
