February 23, 2018 UPDATE

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Newsroom, 23.02.2018, 20:19

TALKS EU heads of state and government, including Romania’s president, Klaus Iohannis, met in Brussels on Friday for the European Council’s informal session on institutional issues and political priorities for the future multi-annual financial framework. Romania is open to the idea of increased national contributions to the EU budget, the Romanian president has said. According to Iohannis only in this way traditional policies, such as the cohesion one, can be carried on. In terms of conditioning the earmarking of EU funds on the observance of the rule of law, president Iohannis has explained that expert talks are needed since there isn’t a unanimously accepted definition of the rule of law. The European Commission proposes that the contribution of each member to the common budget be at least 1.1% of the GDP in order to offset Britain’s leaving the bloc.

VISIT Romanian agriculture minister Petre Daea on Friday met in Bucharest the EU environment commissioner Karmenu Vella. Under discussion was Romania’s sustainable fishing in the Black Sea and its objectives in the field. On Friday commissioner Vella held talks with Romania’s environment minister Gratiela Gavrilescu who announced that Bucharest would have an integrated plan on improving air quality to be approved at the end of May at the latest. In turn, the EU commissioner underlined his support for the Romanian authorities to make a real change in terms of air quality improvement and waste management. Romania and another 8 members had been warned by the Commission they were about to get sanctions for the quality of air mainly in Bucharest, Iasi and Brasov. In another development, Frans Timmermans, Vice-president of the European Commission, and Christos Stylianides, the EU commissioner for humanitarian aid and crisis management, have announced their planned visits to Bucharest next week.

CSM A request by Romania’s Justice Minister Tudorel Toader for sacking the head of the country’s Anti-corruption Agency (DNA), Laura Codruta Kovesi, on Friday reached the Higher Council of Magistrates (CSM). In a report over the DNA activity between February 2017 and February 2018, the minister has criticised Mrs. Kovesi for abuse of authority for having got involved in some files under prosecution and for having failed to check on the activity of some prosecutors who have allegedly committed abuses. According to Toader, chief prosecutor Kovesi has defied the authority of Parliament, contested Constitutional Court rulings affecting Romania’s image abroad. After the Council’s consultative endorsement, the request is to reach president Klaus Iohannis the only one allowed to sack the DNA chief, but the president had reiterated his support for Mrs. Kovesi on Friday. Backed by the PSD-ALDE Parliament majority, Minister Toader’s report has been sharply criticised by the right-wing opposition and has triggered spontaneous street protests in Bucharest and in other Romanian cities.

DNA 135 out of the 183 prosecutors of Romania’s Anti-corruption Agency (DNA) on Friday called on the Higher Council of Magistrates to defend their professional reputation and independence. According to the initiators of the document, ungrounded accusations have been publicly leveled against an entire professional corps in a bid to discredit the DNA activity in the past years. The prosecutors have cautioned against the bleak future of the independence of judiciary and the anti-graft fight in Romania and have voiced discontent over a proposal by Justice Minister Tudorel Toader to sack the head of Romania’s anti-corruption agency, Laura Codruta Kovesi.

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