17 February, 2016

Child sickness raises deep concern, Romanian PM visits Brussels

Newsroom, 17.02.2016, 11:59

Romanian Health Minister, Patriciu Achimas Cadariu is today expected to face the expert commission of the Chamber of Deputies to give explanations about the way in which the issue of the children hospitalized at the “Marie Curie” Hospital in Bucharest has been dealt with. Experts in the diagnosis and treatment of those cases, as well as Health Ministry officials have been invited to attend the meeting. The authorities continue the investigations and plan to conduct more epidemiological tests and hospitals have to declare all suspect cases. Three children have died of hemolytic-uremic syndrome at the “Marie Curie” Hospital. Another eight are still hospitalized, three of whom in the intensive care unit.

Romania’s president, Klaus Iohannis on Monday is addressing Parliament on domestic policy issues, the president of the Senate, Calin Popescu Tariceanu has announced today. That is going to be the first message conveyed by president Klaus Iohannis this year. The Romanian Parliament has addressed Parliament five times since he won the presidential election of November 2014.

In Bucharest, Romania’s president, Klaus Iohannis today has talks with the president of the ex-Soviet Republic of Moldova with a predominantly Romanian-speaking population, Nicolae Timofti, on a visit to Romania. That is the Moldovan president’s last important visit before the expiry of his term in office in about one month. He will have talks with Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos and the president of the Senate, Calin Popescu Tariceanu. The talks will focus on the European agenda of the Republic of Moldova and the economic, political and social cooperation between the two states. Timofti’s visit takes place after the newly appointed Moldovan prime minister, Pavel Filip has called on Romania to give financial aid to his country. Romania has conditioned the unblocking of the loan promised to Moldova by the speedy adoption of reform measures. On Friday, Filip announced that Romania would give Moldova a humanitarian aid consisting of foodstuffs and fuel oil, against the backdrop of the economic and social crisis that country is confronted with.

Over February 23rd-29th, an IMF expert team will pay a working visit to Chisinau, the media in Chisinau reports. The IMF delegation does not have the mandate to negotiate a financing programme with the Republic of Moldova, but it will focus on the recent economic developments and will discuss the policies promoted by the new government with a view to maintaining macroeconomic stability. The IMF, the World Bank and the EU stopped lending to the Republic of Moldova because of the Moldovan officials’ failure to abide by their pledges. The IMF said it would resume lending to Moldova if the three banks involved in the theft of one billion dollars from the country’s banking system at the end of 2014 were liquidated. But the banks got an emergency loan from the National Bank of Moldova to elude bankruptcy.

The Chamber of Deputies of Romania’s Parliament is today voting on the request of the National Anti-Corruption Directorate for deputies Madalin Voicu, a member of the Social Democratic Party and Nicolae Paun, the representative of the Roma minority in Parliament to be detained and taken into custody. On Monday, the prosecutors’ request got the favourable recommendation of the Chamber’s Judicial Commission. The two deputies are accused of unfair use of European funds under projects for Roma communities. According to prosecutors, over 2010-2015, pretending they would assist thousands of Roma people in finding a job or becoming entrepreneurs, the two deputies conceived a plan through which they embezzled over 6 million euro worth of funds in their own interest. Voicu is accused of influence peddling, misstatements and money laundering and Paun is accused of misstatements, changing the destination of European funds, embezzlement and carrying out financial transactions incompatible with his office.

Romanian Prime Minister, Dacian Ciolos, said in Parliament today that he had not been informed and should not have been informed about the Revenue Authority’s action of evacuating the buildings where the TV channels that are part of the Intact private media trust operate. He made it clear that the five-day deadline was the only one stipulated by law and if it had not been observed, the Revenue Authority might have been accused of discrimination. Moreover, Ciolos assured that the freedom of expression would be firmly defended. The journalists of the Intact trust said they were shocked by the Revenue Authority’s action, which in their opinion, directly threatened the freedom of expression by jeopardizing the TV channels’ broadcasting. We recall that the court convicting businessman Dan Voiculescu for corruption in 2014, also ruled that the buildings he owned be seized to make up for the loss incurred by the state in the file of the privatization of the Food Research Institute. Those buildings also include the headquarters of the Intact trust TV channels. The total loss stood at 60 million euros. A little over 1% of that loss has so far been covered through the sale of an apartment and a villa.

The Romanian women’s handball champion CSM Bucharest on Tuesday lost 25-30 to the Macedonian team Vardar Skopje in the return match at home in Group 2 of the Champions’ League. Vardar Skopje that had won the first match too thus qualified for the quarter finals of the competition. CSM Bucharest rank 4th in the group and if they want to stand any chances, they have to beat FC Midjylland of Denmark away from home on February 21st. On Sunday, vicechampion HCM Baia Mare beat the French team Fleury Loiret and rank 4th in the group, standing chances to qualify for the quarter finals.