February 4, 2017 UPDATE

Protests continued in Bucharest on Saturday, for the fifth day in a row, against the decree issued by the Romanian Government to amend the criminal codes.

Newsroom, 04.02.2017, 19:16

ANTI-GOVERNMENT PROTEST Protests continued in Bucharest on
Saturday, for the fifth day in a row,
against the decree issued by the Romanian Government to amend the
criminal codes. The night before, hundreds
of thousands of people took to the streets, in Bucharest as well as in
many other towns and cities across the country and abroad, to demonstrate
against the provisions of the emergency ordinance which, they say, helps
high-ranking politicians and local and central government figures to no longer be
held accountable for corruption. The
leader of the Social Democratic Party Liviu Dragnea has spoken about the possibility
of abrogating the controversial decree, as a means to ease the tension in
Romania, also given that supporters of the party have announced their intention
to take to the streets themselves, unhappy with the fact that the Executive is
not allowed to implement its governing program. In turn, the co-president of
the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats Calin Popescu Tariceanu has stated that abrogating
the decree would allow the start of serious talks with large segments of
society. He has proposed to all stakeholders, parties, civil society and the
business environment, to sit at the negotiation table. The Romanian Foreign
Minister Teodor Melescanu has announced he will travel to Brussels early next
week to talk with EC representatives about the situation in Romania. In
Bucharest, President Klaus Iohannis has notified the Constitutional Court,
signaling the conflict between the Government on the one hand, and the
Judiciary and Parliament on the other. The Supreme Council of Magistracy, the
Ombudsman and the General Prosecutor are also against the provisions of the
ordinance. The embassies in Romania of the US, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, the
Netherlands, Great Britain and Sweden have voiced their concern over the
situation in Romania. They have warned that Government’s actions might affect
these countries’ partnerships with Romania, which are based on common values,
shared by the EU and NATO. In a statement on Radio Romania, the spokesman for
the US Department of State Mark Toner has said that the US calls on the
Romanian Government to give up the recent measures that undermine the rule of
law.

2017 DRAFT BUDGET The joint budget-finances committees of the
Romanian Parliament are discussing the 2017 draft state budget. A report must
be concluded by Sunday evening, for the document to be debated in plenary
parliament session on Monday. Speaking on behalf of the Government made up of
representatives of the Social Democratic Party and the Alliance of Liberals and
Democrats in Romania, the Finance Minister Viorel Stefan gave assurances that
the draft observes the main directions established under the governing program,
among which slashing the VAT from 20 to 19% and eliminating the income tax on
pensions of up to 2000 lei, the equivalent of some 400 Euros. The budget was
built taking into account a growth rate of 5.2% and a deficit of maximum 3%.
Also, Romania will stay committed to allocating 2% of the GDP to defense. The
right wing opposition, however, believes that the revenues on the basis of
which the budget was built are overestimated.

COMMEMORATION Commemorative events were held on Saturday at the Memorial of the Victims of Communism and of the Resistance in Sighet,
north-western Romania, to mark 64 years since the death of the great politician
Iuliu Maniu. The political personality of the leader of the National Peasant
Party, who was a Prime Minister between the wars and a member of the Romanian Academy,
was evoked through various presentations and speeches. A militant for national
union, a promoter of the democratic values, an opponent of Nazism and
Communism, Maniu was arrested in 1947 by the dummy Government imposed by the
Soviets and died in 1953 at the age of 80 in the Sighet prison, where most of
the former Democratic dignitaries had been imprisoned.

AWARD Romania’s President Klaus Iohannis has been
awarded the Saint George Medal at an event organized by the Semper Opera House
in Dresden, eastern Germany, for his political commitment to promoting the
European project and its values. According to a communiqué issued on Saturday
by the Presidential Administration in Bucharest, the president has stated he
received the medal in the name of all Romanian and devoted it to the Romanian -
German friendship. Other personalities who have received the medal are the former
German President Christian Wulff, the former European Commissioner Gunther
Oettinger, the former president of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso
and the current European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker.

TENNIS Romanian tennis players Horia Tecau and
Marius Copil were defeated in Minsk on
Saturday by the pair Max Mirnyi – Yaraslav Shyla of Belarus, in the doubles of the first round of Davis Cup’s
Europe/Africa Zone Group I. Leading the competition is now Belarus 2-1. On
Friday, the Romanian Adrian Ungur defeated Ilya Ivashka, and Marius Copil lost
to Egor Gherasimov. The last two singles are scheduled for Sunday: Marius Copil -
Ilya Ivashka and then Adrian Ungur – Egor
Gherasimov.