February 2, 2015 UPDATE

A roundup of domestic and international news.

România Internațional, 02.02.2015, 12:15

Romania’s Prosecutor General Tiberiu Nitu on Monday asked the Senate and the President to approve the request of the Direction for the Investigation of Organized Crimes and Terrorism DIICOT allowing for the prosecution of two former economy ministers, senator Varujan Vosganian and Adriean Videanu, respectively, involved in the Romgaz-Interagro file. The two are accused by the DIICOT prosecutors of having set up an organised crime group, of abuse of office and complicity to embezzlement. This is the second time when prosecutors ask for the Senates approval to prosecute Varujan Vosganian. This parliament chamber gave a negative answer to a similar request by prosecutors, in 2013. The DIICOT prosecutors say that Varujan Vosganian, between December 2006 and December 2008 and Adriean Videanu between December 2008 and September 2010, while they were economy ministers, took some decisions in favor of a private company company held by a businessman, who was granted preferential prices for gas delivered by the state-owned company Romgaz. Adriean Videanu is currently under a 30-day preventive arrest in another corruption file.

The disagreements between Greece and the eurozone are the biggest threat to world economy and all parties must act in a responsible manner, British finance minister George Osborne said on Monday in London, after a meeting with his Greek counterpart, Yannis Varoufakis. The latter continues his European tour in search of allies, as Germany categorically refused any negotiation of Greece’s current debt, according to international press agencies. Varoufakis said that Greece wanted to sign by late May a global agreement on its financial situation. At the same time, the new Greek PM, Alexis Tsipras, meets on Wednesday in Brussels the president of the European Commission, who was firmly against writing off Greek debt. This week’s discussions occur because Athens declared it would cease any cooperation with the so-called troika of international lenders and would apply for an extension of its financial aid program, which runs out on 28 February.

The Romanian Foreign Ministry is firmly rejecting the denigrating statements of the head of the Iraqi Defence and Security Committee with the Baghdad Parliament, on an alleged sale of Romanian weapons to the terrorist group Islamic State. The Romanian Foreign Ministry has asked the Iraqi Parliament to present public apologies for its completely groundless statements, which can hinder bilateral relations. The Romanian Ministry has also stated that Romania will continue to support Iraq in its battle against terrorism.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday in Budapest called for an immediate cease-fire in Ukraine. In a press conference held jointly with the Hungarian conservative Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Merkel said Germany would not support Kiev’s military forces by supplying them weapons and pointed out the solution to the conflict was by no means a military one. The two officials also discussed about bilateral issues, EU policies on migration and the relations between the EU and Russia. Merkel’s visit to Hungary follows the protest of thousands of people on Sunday in Budapest, who asked for her support and protested against Victor Orban’s actions, whom they accuse of taking the country away from the EU and democracy and closer to Russia.

Romanian Parliament member and former Tourism Minister Elena Udrea, suspected of corruption in the Gala Bute case, said on Monday she had done nothing illegal and that her name was mentioned in this file following the accusations she had leveled last week against the interim Romanian Intelligence chief. On Monday, anti-corruption prosecutors asked the Chamber of Deputies to approve the prosecution of Elena Udrea, on charges of abuse of office and influence peddling. A similar request was made in the case of the former Economy Minister Ion Ariton. Anti-corruption prosecutors ran searches at company offices and homes as part of the Gala Bute case, dating back to 2011. Many of the people under investigation are former employees of the Ministry of Tourism, which was headed back then by Elena Udrea. The alleged crimes involve public acquisition procedures.

Romanian PM Victor Ponta submitted in Parliament on Monday the priorities of his cabinet. Ponta said that he would like to have a regular so-called ‘Prime Minister’s Hour’ on every first Monday of the month. This is one of the proposals for change that the head of government wants to introduce in Parliament. Among the announced priorities for the new session of Parliament are new election legislation, simpler procedures for lifting parliamentary immunity and passing the law of personal bankruptcy. At the same time, President Klaus Iohannis announced he wanted to address Parliament on February 9th.

Romanian tennis player Simona Halep is still a 3rd-seed, according to the rankings the WTA made public on Monday. The Romanian tennis player who last week reached as far as the Australian Open’s quarterfinals has been overpowered by the American Serena Williams and Russia’s Maria Sharapova, who fought for the trophy of the year’s first Grand Slam tournament. Among the world’s top 100 tennis players, representing Romania are also Irina Begu, ranked 34th, which is the best position of her career, Monica Niculescu, ranked 57th, and Alexandra Dulgheru, seeded 95th. Halep, Begu, Niculescu and Dulgheru are actually part of Romania’s team that later this week will be taking on Spain, in a confrontation counting towards the first round of the Fed Cup’s World Group. The match will be venued by the eastern Romanian city of Galati.