April 24, 2019

Chamber of Deputies passes controversial criminal law amendments; President and outgoing Justice Minister meet Venice Commission deletgation

Ştefan Stoica, 24.04.2019, 15:20

LEGAL – The Chamber of Deputies in the Bucharest Parliament, as the decision making forum in this case, passed the bills bringing changes to the Criminal Code and the Criminal Procedural Code. Opposition deputies have spoken against the changes in plenary session, announcing they would sue against them in Constitutional Court once again. The opposition pointed out that these provisions, in spite of having been approved by the highest court, aid criminals. Among the controversial articles are decriminalizing abuse of office, reducing the statute of limitations, and reducing the time it takes to apply for parole.

BUCHAREST – President Klaus Iohannis and departing Justice Minister Tudorel Toader held talks in Bucharest with a delegation from the Venice Commission, mainly about controversial changes brought to the Criminal Code. Outgoing minister Toader holds talks today with a group of Venice Commission rapporteurs. At the same time, members of the special justice committee in the Chamber of Deputies meet representatives from the European organization to talk on the same topic. The Venice Commission is a consultative body for the European Commission in constitutional issues. Its role is to offer legal assistance to states that want to bring their laws and institutions in line with European standards in terms of human rights and rule of law.

EXERCISE – Romania hosts the Resolute Castle 2019 military exercise, bringing together military engineers from the Romanian Ground Forces and the South Carolina National Guard from the US. The action starts on Wednesday at the Getica National Joint Training Center in Cincu, in central Romania. For the fifth consecutive year, the Lower Danube 10th Engineer Brigade with support from engineers from the 2nd and 4th Infantry Divisions, will be joined by American engineers between April and September in building infrastructure for training platforms, according to the Defense Ministry. Resolute Castle 2019 aims to increase interoperability by continuous training and by applying innovative solutions.

TENNIS — The Romanian- Dutch pair Horia Tecau/ Jean-Julien Rojer qualified on Tuesday night for the quarter finals in the doubles at the tennis tournament in Barcelona, with over two and a half million dollars in prize money. The two defeated the Spanish double David Marrero/Fernando Verdasco 6-3, 7-6.

SRI LANKA — The speaker of the Parliament in Sri Lanka said that high officials in his country have deliberately concealed intelligence they received about possible acts of terrorism ahead of the unprecedented wave of bombings in the capital Colombo, which left at least 359 people dead. Over 400 injured persons are still in hospital, many in a critical state. Lakshman Kiriella specified that information was received on April 4 on possible suicide attacks against churches, hotels, and politicians. On April 7 a meeting of the countrys security council took place, chaired by the president, but the information was not shared any further. The police announced that 60 people have been arrested on suspicion of being involved in the bloody attacks. The so-called Islamic State terror group claimed the attacks, which has not been confirmed.

GOLD RESERVE — The Chamber of Deputies in Bucharest passed today the bill introduced by majority Social Democratic leader Liviu Dragnea regarding Romanias gold reserves. The Liberal opposition announced it would attack the bill in Constitutional Court. The law stipulates that the National Bank may deposit gold abroad only for the purpose of obtaining revenue from transactions and other specific operations. Gold deposits abroad cannot be more than 5% of the total. Right now, of the National Banks gold reserves, a total of 103.7 tons, worth around 3.7 billion Euro, 65% is deposited in the UK and Switzerland.

FRONTIER — The European agency in charge of the operational management of large scale IT systems in justice and security hosts in Bucharest an event on operational solutions for securing maritime and land borders. This round table is organized in collaboration with the Interior Ministry, under the auspices of the Romanian presidency of EU Council. Participants are set to analyze means of managing the speedy crossing of borders by vehicles and people.