April 10, 2024
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Radio România Internațional and Cristina Mateescu, 10.04.2024, 14:01
NATO. President Klaus Iohannis said today that Romania must step up efforts to consolidate its military reserve force, to revitalise the national defence industry and modernise its transport infrastructure. He said Romania, together with NATO allies, will continue to provide “political and basically multidimensional support” to Kyiv. The president is attending an event to celebrate Romania’s 20th NATO membership organised by the defence ministry in Bucharest. Attending are senate speaker Nicolae Ciucă, prime minister Marcel Ciolacu, foreign minister Luminiţa Odobescu and political and defence officials from Romania and NATO member states. In March 2004, Romania officially joined NATO after presenting the instruments of ratification to the US State Department, the depositary of the North-Atlantic Alliance Treaty, and in April the Romanian flag was flown at the NATO headquarters as part of an official ceremony. Romania has hosted various events in recent weeks to mark 20 years of NATO membership and NATO’s 75th anniversary.
Law. The Constitutional Court is today discussing an action submitted by the High Court of Cassation and Justice in connection with the so-called fugitives law. The supreme court decided at the end of last year to challenge the bill, under which persons who received final sentences and who do not surrender themselves to the police to serve their prison sentence within seven days will be considered fugitives and face an additional time in prison of between 6 months and 3 years. In the opinion of the High Court, the bill violates the right to a fair process and individual freedom. Bucharest’s former mayor Sorin Oprescu, the former head of the organised crime prosecutor’s office Alina Bica and the man calling himself Paul of Romania, the grandson of King Carol II, are among the people who received final prison sentences and who have fled the country to escape prison. Italy and Greece are the preferred countries for the convicted fugitives.
Elections. Romanian political parties wishing to send representatives to the European Parliament have until today to submit their lists of candidates to the Central Electoral Bureau. Within 24 hours of the registration of candidatures, the candidates’ declarations stating they did not work or collaborate with the political police of the communist regime are to be submitted to the National Council for the Study of the Securitate Archives. The lists of candidates and of the independent candidates must be published on Thursday. The placement on the ballot of political parties, citizen organisations belonging to ethnic minorities, political alliances and electoral alliances that submitted lists of candidates, and independent candidates will be established on 30th April. The European elections will take place in Romania on 9th June, on the same date as the local elections. The presidential elections are scheduled in September and those for the national Parliament in December.
Gambling. The Chamber of Deputies on Tuesday adopted new regulations for gambling, with gambling venues to be banned from places with fewer than 15,000 inhabitants. The bill provides for steep fines of over 40,000 euros, confiscation of money resulting from criminal activity and even suspending the business licence. The representatives of the ruling coalition formed by the Social Democratic Party and the National Liberal Party say the bill will deal a blow to the gambling industry, which is wreaking havoc especially in the rural environment. They said this is only the first step and that after seeing the reaction from the industry, they will move to banning gambling venues from the big cities. The opposition has accused the ruling coalition of hypocrisy and of using the issue for election purposes.
Football. The Romanian women’s football side on Tuesday evening defeated Kazakhstan 1-nil in a Group C4 match in the preliminaries of the 2025 European Championship. In their opening group match on Friday, Romania also defeated Armenia 5-nil, away. Romania top the group with 6 points, followed by Armenia, with 3 points, Bulgaria, with 3 points, and Kazakhstan, with 0 points. Romania will next face Bulgaria, on 31st May at home.
