April 12, 2016

A roundup of domestic and international news.

Warning: Trying to access array offset on null in /home/web/rri.ro/public/wp-content/themes/rri/template-parts/content.php on line 98
Newsroom, 12.04.2016, 12:00

UKRAINE – The Parliament of Ukraine, a country neighbouring Romania, will today approve the resignation of PM Arseniy Yatsenyuk and find him a replacement. Yatsenyuk announced his resignation on Sunday, blaming politicians’ failure to enact real changes. His government has been constantly accused, over the past few months, of inaction and corruption. President Petro Poroshenko could now install Volodymyr Groysman, a member of his own party, as the next prime minister. However, the Unian news agency quoted parliament sources as saying that Groysman is said to have turned down the President’s proposal over divergences regarding the Cabinet’s membership.

LEGISLATION – Romanian President Klaus Iohannis has initiated consultations with parliamentary parties on the national security legislation. Iohannis seeks consensum ahead of the public debate on this issue. The Social Democratic Party (PSD), the National Liberal Party (PNL) and the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania (UDMR) are attending today’s meeting with the head of state. The PSD leader, Liviu Dragnea, has said that his party supports the Romanian state’s investigative capacity but that citizens’ fundamental rights should not be affected. In his turn, the co-president of the National Liberal Party, Alina Gorghiu, believes that improving the national security legislation has become the goal of the entire political class, against the background of the terrorist threat. In his turn, the UDMR leader, Kelemen Hunor, has said he is in favor of a balance to be striken between the need for security and the observance of people’s rights and liberties. The need for the revision of the security legislation has been signalled recently by President Iohannis, who has said that the current legislation no longer reflects the present security context.

ECHR – Romania was sentenced again in the European Court of Human Rights for failing to solve the anti-communist Revolution case. This time, Romania must pay 675 thousand euros to 45 people. Each plaintiff will get 15 thousand euros in damages. In February, the European Court of Human Rights had ruled that the Romanian state must pay 15 thousand euros to each of the 17 plaintiffs. The latter accused the authorities of failure to carry out an efficient investigation into the death of their loved ones and into the ill treatments that they, or people close to them, were subjected to during the December 1989 protests. The Revolution Case was reopened last week in Romania. According to official statistics, over 1,100 people lost their lives and around 3 thousand were injured during the December 1989 Revolution.

PROTESTS— The rally of miners and power industry workers with the Oltenia Energy Compound in southwestern Romania in protest at the lay-off of hundreds of employees continues. Around 60 of them will travel over 300 km to Bucharest, to protest in front of the Government headquarters. Among other things, the unionists demand that a plan be urgently put in place to enhance the efficiency of production units and that salary schemes should be based on performance criteria. Unionists hope that what they call “the rally of despair” will also trigger a revision of the regulations on the domestic energy market.

ELECTIONS – The leadership of the National Liberal Party (PNL), the most important right-of centre party in Romania, is today nominating a new candidate for Bucharest’s mayoralty. The National Liberal Party vice-president and candidate in the race for Bucharest mayor, Ludovic Orban, withdrew his candidacy and renounced his party positions, after being subjected to legal restrictions pending trial in a new corruption case. Anti-corruption prosecutors claim that Orban last month demanded 50,000 euros from a businessman linked with decision-makers in two television stations in exchange for the media advertising of his campaign. Local elections will be held in Romania on June 5th.

DOPING – Romanian athlete Mirela Lavric, aged 25, one of the best sprinters in Romania, tested positive for Meldonium during the World Indoor Championships in Portland, this March, when she won the bronze medal in the 4 x 400m relay race, ProSport online magazine reports. Mirela Lavric is thus the first Romanian athlete tested positive for the same substance as the famous tennis player Maria Sharapova.