August 19, 2016 UPDATE

A roundup of domestic and international news

Newsroom, 19.08.2016, 12:15

EUROBAROMETER Romanians’ confidence in justice and the legal system in general has dropped by 13 % as
compared to 2015, the Eurobarometer issued by the European Commission shows. 60% of the respondents say they do not really trust the judiciary in Romania, which is a 12% increase as compared to
2015. 72% of the respondents say they have confidence in the Army, 4% less than
in 2015. Some 50% of the respondents trust the police, 1% more than in the fall of 2015. Higher percentages are also registered in the case of political parties, amounting to 13%, one percent more than in the fall of 2015. The poll was conducted between May 21 and
31, 2016.

ROAD CARRIERS Romanian
road freight carriers have decided to go on a token strike and run every day at
a speed of 30 km/hour anywhere in Romania, until the car insurance premiums are
reduced to 4,907 lei per year, that is 1,100 Euro, reads a communiqué
issued by the National Union of Road Carriers in Romania and made public by the
AGREPRES news agency on Friday. Apart from the token strike, the Union,
together with the other employers’ associations in the field of road
transportation will organise a big protest movement, at national level, on
September 15, 2016. Most commercial carriers are on the brink of bankruptcy
after insurance premiums for commercial freight and passenger transportation
have increased by over 300% as compared to the previous year and by over 500%
as compared to 2014. The union also believes that insurance companies are not
interested in reducing risks, but in concealing their inefficiency and placing
the burden on carriers.

DROUGHT Prolonged
drought in Romania has affected over 350,000 ha of farm land, but it is only at
the end of the year that the relevant authorities can made public the exact
surface of the affected area, as they are still receiving notifications from
the field, agriculture minister Achim Irimescu has said. He has added that the
ministry he runs has taken into consideration an assistance plan to compensate
the debts accumulated by farmers who no longer afford to pay electricity and
water bills. In another move, farmers protested again on Thursday in front of
the Government headquarters, unhappy with the delayed payment of subsidies in
agriculture. Some of them went on hunger strike and said they would continue
this extreme form of protest until the government made all the payments. They
have rejected any invitation to negotiations extended by the agriculture minister,
whom they blame for failing to comply with the commitments he has made.

BORDER SECURITY The
Romanian Interior Ministry has increased the number of border police and gendarmes deployed along the border with Serbia, after two illegal border
crossing attempts by small groups of migrants have been registered this week, a
communiqué issued by the Romanian Interior Ministry reads. Furthermore, the
troops already deployed are now accompanied by thermo-vision cars, canine
border patrols and additional ground troops. These ground missions will be
backed by a helicopter. These actions are aimed at maintaining public order and
fighting cross-border crime on Romania’s south-western border.

HUMAN RIGHTS The Romanian
Foreign Ministry firmly condemns the attacks and threats against humanitarian
aid workers and calls for the unconditional observance of international human
rights, including with regard to ensuring civilians’ protection. The
announcement was made on Friday, which was World Humanitarian Day. The Romanian
Foreign Ministry honours all those who take risks and make personal sacrifices
to reduce suffering and help the victims of conflicts, violence and natural
disasters. According to a communiqué issued by the Ministry, last year 109
humanitarian aid workers died in crisis areas and, this year in June, the tall
stood at 24 people. According to the UN, there are some 130 million people
currently affected by conflicts and disasters, in more than 40 countries across
the world.

INTELLIGENCE More than
8,000 Romanians were the object of police exchanges of information at
international level, in the first half of the year. According to a communiqué
issued by the Romanian General Police Inspectorate, as a result of the exchange of messages through INTERPOL, 623 people were arrested
and 46 were located abroad to be subsequently extradited. The International
Police Cooperation Centre of the Romanian Police processed over 200,000
operative messages in the first half of the year, with the aim of combating crime at global level. 32 operations concerning serious crimes were run through Europol, in partnership with law
enforcement agencies in Romania.

SUMMER UNIVERSITY The 14th
Summer University in Izvorul Muresului ended with the participants adopting a
resolution, which will be submitted to the Presidential Administration,
Parliament, Government and political parties in Romania. Representatives of the
historical communities around the borders and the Diaspora formulated requests
regarding Romanian citizenship and the setting up of cultural institutes. Also, they
stressed in the resolution the fact that Romanians in the historical
communities around Romania’s borders in the Balkans are subject to an
aggressive assimilation process, without them benefiting from the European
rights for national minorities. The participants ask for the setting up of a
Ministry of Romanians Around the World, the passing of the law on the status,
role and functions of Romanian language as official language, and the Romanian
political parties on both sides of the River Prut making a re-union pact with a view to completely
integrating the Republic of Moldova into Romania by 2018.