February 3, 2017 UPDATE

For a roundup of domestic and international news, click here.

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Newsroom, 03.02.2017, 19:46

EMERGENCY ORDINANCE— Romania’s president Klaus Iohannis will address Parliament on the 7th of February on the subject of the government’s changes to criminal laws and the events sparked as a result. The president challenged the government’s move at the Constitutional Court invoking a legal conflict of a constitutional nature between the Government, on the one hand, and the judiciary and Parliament, on the other. After the Superior Council of Magistracy and the Prosecutor General’s Office, the Ombudsman is now also contesting the government ordinance. In turn, Romania’s Prosecutor General will challenge the ordinance in court. On Tuesday night, the government passed a bill on prison pardon and issued an emergency ordinance to amend the criminal codes. Tens of thousands of people again took to the streets on Friday for the fourth day in a row to protest against the government’s decree that would partly decriminalise some forms of corruption. Despite unanimous condemnation by the country’s judicial institutions, the Social Democratic government has decided to go ahead with the changes. The Social Democratic Party on Thursday reaffirmed its support for Prime Minister Sorin Grindeanu. The leader of the party Liviu Dragnea says a disinformation campaign is being waged on the subject and believes that any attempt to undermine the activity of the government is in fact an attempt to destabilise the rule of law.

BUDGET — Parliament’s specialist committees on Friday debated the 2017 budget bill, greenlighting most of the budget allocations to state institutions and ministries. Finance Minister Viorel Stefan said the budget observes the main guidelines, such as cutting the VAT from 20% to 19% or eliminating the income tax for pensions lower or equal to 2,000 lei. This year’s budget is based on a 5.2% economic growth rate and a deficit of maximum 3% and will allow Romania to comply with its commitments to allocate 2% of its GDP to the defence ministry. The government expects an inflation rate under 1.4% and an unemployment rate of 4.3%. On the other hand, the opposition claims the revenue forecast underling the bill is hyped.

SUMMIT — Heads of state and Government adopted new measures to stop the flow of migrants into the EU at Friday’s informal meeting of the EU Council where Romania was represented by its president Klaus Iohannis. The 28 EU leaders discussed in particular the migration from Libya and the central Mediterranean routes. Attending the summit, Klaus Iohannis stressed the importance to tackle the root causes of migration and to support the countries receiving the highest number of arrivals. Another topic was EU-US relations. European Council President Donald Tusk said relations remain an absolute priority for the EU, as one of the major pillars of the free world. In turn, Klaus Iohannis said Romania favors a strong EU-US relationship, pointing out that the Strategic Partnership with the US is vital for Romania.

REACTION — The United States has expressed its deep concern with the Romanian Government’s recent measures undermining the rule of law and curbing accountability for financial and corruption offences, Spokesperson of the US State Department Mark Toner told Radio Romania. The US official said that by withdrawing the ordinance, the Government can support Romania’s credibility at international level, keeping it on track towards investment and economic growth. The US official said the United States is committed to supporting Romania in its efforts to consolidate the rule of law and to combat corruption.

ARREST — The Romanian Intelligence Service has confirmed the arrest of a Romanian national in Germany, suspected of planning a terrorist attack in this country. The Romanian Intelligence Service said it contributed important information to the investigation carried out by their German partners, which led to the arrest of the Romanian citizen. According to the Prosecutor’s Office in Karlsruhe, the 21-year-old Romanian was detained on Frankfurt Airport. He is suspected of being tied to an Islamist organization and of having been exchanging online message with various people with a view to staging a terrorist attack in Germany. The man was getting ready to travel to Romania and was arrested on Thursday. The Baden-Wurttemberg Police has searched the man’s home in the Heidelberg region and seized digital data and documents.

TENNIS — Romania and Belarus are tied 1-all after day 1 of the Davis Cup match counting towards Group 1 of the Europe-Africa zone. Adrian Ungur, 313 ATP, defeated Ilya Ivashka, 175 ATP, while Marius Copil, 129 ATP, lost to Egor Gerasimov, 341 ATP. In the doubles, Horia Tecau and Nicolae Frunza on Saturday face Max Mirnyi and Egor Gerasimov. In the final single matches on Sunday, Romania’s Marius Copil faces Ilya Ivashka, while Adrian Ungur plays against Egor Gerasimov. In other news from tennis, Romania’s highest ranked player in the women’s ranking, world no. 4 Simona Halep, who was due to play Russia’s Natalia Vikhlyantseva in the quarterfinals, has withdrawn from the Saint Petersburg tournament worth more than 700,000 dollars in prize money due to a knee injury. (Translated by V. Palcu)