December 22, 2017 UPDATE

Romanians marked the December 1989 victory of anti-communist uprising, Parliament voted on 2018 budget

Newsroom, 22.12.2017, 19:46

1989 Anti-Communist Uprising — The Day of the Victory of the Romanian Revolution and of Freedom was marked on Friday in Romania. Started in December 1989 by the people of Timisoara (in the west), who opposed an abusive measure of local authorities, the uprising extended to the whole country and culminated on December 22, when the dictatorial couple abandoned power and fled. From December 16 to 25, 1989 over one thousand people died and almost 3,400 were injured. To honor the memory of those killed 28 years ago military and religious ceremonies took place on Friday in Bucharest and other big cities of Romania.

Budget — The Romanian Parliament on Friday voted the state budget and the social security budget bills for 2018 with 255 votes ‘for’ and 95 ‘against’. The opposition members, who did not manage to impose any of their thousands of amendments, did not vote. The budget for 2018 is based on a 5.5% economic growth rate, an average annual inflation rate of 3.1%, an average exchange rate of 4.55 lei for one Euro and an average net salary of 565 Euros per month. The budget deficit is estimated at 2.97% of the GDP, under the 3% threshold. According to the government, 2018 has the most generous budget of the past 28 years, being centered on healthcare, education and infrastructure, while the opposition considers it an austerity budget.

Strasbourg — The Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Thorbjorn Jagland, sent a letter to the Romanian President Klaus Iohannis in which he urges him to ask for the Venice Commission’s point of view on the modifications to the justice laws passed by Parliament. Thorbjorn Jagland said he closely followed the legislative process during which Romanian MPs passed a series of modifications to 3 laws in the justice field and that he knew that these reforms were being widely discussed by those interested as well as by the Romanian society in general. Mr. Jagland believes that an opinion of the Venice Commission would clarify whether the legislative modifications were in line with the fundamental standards of the rule of law. The opinion of the European Commission for Democracy through Law, better known as the Venice Commission, completes the urgent assessment of these modifications to be made by GRECO — the Group of States against Corruption, from the perspective of anti-corruption standards, the letter also shows.

Bucharest — The Romanian Foreign Ministry announced Friday that it took note of the stand expressed by 7 partners and allies of Romania as regards the developments in the justice system. The Foreign Ministry officials have reiterated Romania’s firm commitment to the EU values and expressed openness towards a real and concrete dialogue with the European partners. On Thursday, the embassies of several EU countries in Romania made an appeal on all sides involved in the reform of the justice system to avoid any action that might undermine the independence of the judiciary and the anti-corruption fight in Romania. In their open letter, the diplomatic missions expressed their conviction that the laws regarding the reform of the judiciary, passed recently, in their current form, as well as the recent amendments proposed to the Criminal Code and the Criminal Procedure Code, risk endangering the progress Romania has made in the past years.

National Bank — The National Bank of Romania will put into circulation, from January 1, banknotes and coins with the country’s new coats of arms, which will circulate in parallel with the current ones. In the new coat of arms the eagle has a crown on its head. The new banknotes and coins will be put into circulation in stages, depending on the real need for coins. The new banknotes will have written on the obverse the date “January 1, 2018”. A national bank communiqué shows that all the other graphic and safety elements will remain unchanged.

Madrid — The Spanish PM Mariano Rajoy announced that the central government was open to cooperate with the future regional government of Catalonia, under the conditions of the law. PM Rajoy said he did not intend to talk with the former separatist president of Catalonia Carles Puigdemont, the winning candidate of the coalition “Together for Catalonia”. Rajoy’s reaction comes after Puigdemont asked him, from Brussels, to meet in order to discuss the situation in Catalonia after the elections. The Party Ciudadanos obtained a historic result in Thursday’s elections in Catalonia, but they are far from being able to form a majority regional government, not even with the support of the other unionist parties, the Socialist Party and the People’s Party. The PM Mariano Rajoy called for these elections on October 27 in order to reestablish the constitutional order broken by the secessionists when they organized an illegal referendum on October 1 and proclaimed the independence of Catalonia. (news translated by Lacramioara Simion)