February 24, 2015 UPDATE
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România Internațional, 24.02.2015, 20:08
Last year saw a number of firsts since the setting up of the National Anti-Corruption Directorate: the biggest number of cases registered and solved, the biggest number of trials and convictions, as well as the biggest number of high-ranking officials prosecuted, said on Tuesday Chief Prosecutor Laura Codruta Kovesi, upon presenting the 2014 activity report. She also said that public trust in that institution had reached the highest level since its establishment. Some of the most resounding cases included the so-called Microsoft deal, regarding the granting of IT licenses to schools, the temporary arrest of the former head of the Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism, Alina Bica, as well as of the former president’s brother, Mircea Basescu. In 2014, the 86 prosecutors of the directorate had to solve over 9,000 cases, and some 1100 people got final sentences. As regards acquittals, the percentage stood at 9%, below the European average.
Romania will support the Republic of Moldova, its neighbour with a predominantly Romanian — speaking population, in achieving its European and democratic goals, said in Chisinau on Tuesday Romanian president Klaus Iohannis, after talks with his counterpart Nicolae Timofti. The latter stressed Moldova’s strong desire to join the EU. Iohannis said he wanted the visit to Chisinau to be his first official visit outside Romania and stressed that he accepted the invitation after the formation of the new Moldovan government. The talks between the two heads of state focused on the regional situation. The Romanian president voiced worries over the effects the developments in Ukraine might have on the Republic of Moldova’s stability. Timofti said that Moldovan authorities were in favour of a peaceful solution, without external interference and by fully observing Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. This week the Romanian president will also pay a formal visit to Berlin, where he will met his counterpart Joachim Gauck and Chancellor Angela Merkel.
On Tuesday, the parliamentary intelligence oversight committee endorsed president Klaus Iohannis’s proposal for the MEP Eduard Hellvig to take over the office of director of the Romanian Intelligence Service. First a member of the co-ruling Conservative Party and then of the National Liberal Party since 2008, Hellvig, aged 40, was in 2012 Minister of Regional Development and Tourism in the government headed by Victor Ponta. Last autumn he was a member of President Iohannis’s election campaign team. The position of head of the Romanian Intelligence Service became vacant on January 27th, when George Cristian Maior resigned after eight years. Previously, he had harshly criticized the Constitutional Court’s decision to deem unconstitutional the cyber-security law, part of a legislative package on national security.
The Eurozone finance ministers on Tuesday green-lighted the extension of the Greece bailout, based on the plan of reforms developed by the Greek authorities. The extension by four months of the accord will be final once all parliaments of the 19 Eurozone countries have endorsed it. The Greek government’s reform plan includes, among other things, measures to fight tax evasion and corruption, the creation of an effective tax system, combating fuel and cigarettes trafficking and new labour reforms. Also, the list includes a set of electoral promises made by the Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’s party, Syriza. They target disadvantaged categories and provide for free electricity for 300,000 families, as well as food and transport coupons. Greece urgently needs money, as the total amount withdrawn from the Greek banks in the past two months has exceeded 20 billion Euros. Greece’s debt stands at some 315 billion Euros, accounting for 175% of the GDP.
The Foreign Ministers of France, Germany, Ukraine and Russia, who gathered in Paris on Tuesday, called again for a full observance of the cease fire agreement signed in Minsk on February 12th. The four officials agreed that a stronger OSCE monitoring mission was needed in eastern Ukraine. In another move, the Ukrainian Foreign Minister voiced regrets that the participants could not reach a political agreement regarding the condemnation of the pro-Russia rebels’ seizing parts of the railway hub of Debaltevo, in eastern Ukraine, which was in breach of the Minsk accord. On the ground, despite a relatively calmer situation, clashes have continued near the strategic port of Mariupol, the last big city in the Donbas area that is under the Kiev authorities’ control. France Presse reports that Mariupol could be the next target of the pro-Russian separatists after Debaltevo.
The Romanian High Court will debate the request submitted by the National Anti-Corruption Directorate for the temporary arrest of MP and former development minister Elenea Udrea, for her involvement in another case of corruption. On Monday, the Chamber of Deputies approved the Directorate’s request for Udrea’s prosecution and temporary arrest. She’s been on house arrest since last week, pending trial for another case of corruption.
The pair made up of the Romanian Horia Tecau and the Dutch Jean-Julien Rojer has qualified for the second round of the Dubai tennis tournament, with over 2 million dollars in prize money. They beat in two sets, 6-4, 7-6, the Swiss pair made of Roger Federer and Michael Lammer. At the same competition, the Romanian — English pair Florin Mergea/ Dominic Inglot qualified for the second round after beating in two sets the Spanish Feliciano Lopez and Fernando Verdasco. The women’s competition of the tournament was won last week by the Romanian Simona Halep, who thus earned back the third position in the WTA classification.
