June 22, 2018

The Social Democratic Party holds emergency meeting to discuss Liviu Dragnea's sentence / A recovery center for soldiers deployed abroad will be set up near Targoviste

Newsroom, 22.06.2018, 13:51

SENTENCE – An emergency meeting of the executive board of the Social
Democratic Party, the main party in the ruling coalition in Romania, is to be
held today, to discuss the situation created by the president of the party
Liviu Dragnea being sentenced to prison for instigation to abuse of power by a
court of first instance. The executive president of the Social Democratic
Party, Prime Minister Viorica Dancila, believes that Dragnea should benefit
from the presumption of innocence until the final ruling, while the
vice-president and Interior Minister Carmen Dan claims that the sentence issued
by the High Court of Cassation and Justice is politically motivated and a
revenge from those who oppose the reforming of the rule of law. The right-wing
opposition wants Dragnea to resign from his public offices.

JUSTICE LAWS – Romania’s president Klaus Iohannis has sent back for
reexamination in Parliament the bill that amends and completes the Law on the
functioning of the Higher Council of the Magistracy. According to Iohannis, the
bill includes provisions that are contradictory, unclear, as well as references
to provisions and norms that do not exist. This bill, just like the ones
regarding judicial organization and the status of judges and prosecutors, is on
the agenda of the talks that the chairman of the parliamentary committee in
charge with the laws Florin Iordache will have today and tomorrow at the
plenary session of the Venice Commission, the advisory body of the Council of Europe in the field of
constitutional law. Iordache has stated that the three bills are in line with
the opinions expressed by the Venice Commission and do not affect the
independence of the judiciary. A Venice Commission delegation has recently paid
a visit to Bucharest, to analyze the justice laws. Their modification, in the
form wanted by the coalition formed by the Social Democratic Party and the Alliance
of Liberals and Democrats has been criticized by the right-wing opposition,
magistrates’ associations and many civil society voices.

REVOLUTION CASE – Romania’s President
Klaus Iohannis has submitted to the Minister of Justice Tudorel Toader the
request for the criminal prosecution of the retired admiral Emil Cico
Dumitrescu, investigated for crimes against humanity committed during the 1989
Revolution. The first post-communist president Ion Iliescu and the former
prime-minister Petre Roman, as well as his deputy Gelu Voican Voiculescu are
also being prosecuted in the Revolution case. They allegedly masterminded a
military diversion, aimed to legitimize them as leaders of the power that took
over control after the communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu attempted to flee,
a diversion in which many people were wounded and killed and which caused
significant material damage. 1,166 people died in the events of December 1989,
800 of them after the toppling of the Ceausescu regime.

CENTER – The Romanian Defense Minister Mihai Fifor has
announced that a recovery center for soldiers returned from theaters of
operations abroad will be established near Targoviste, in southern Romania.
Investment might start next year. The project is an initiative of the Veterans’
Association and of the Disabled Veterans’ Association.

MOLDOVA – The Court of Appeal of the Republic of Moldova endorsed on
Thursday the invalidation of the early elections for the office of mayor of the
capital Chisinau. The second round of the ballot was won on June 3rd by the
representative of the pro-European opposition Andrei Nastase, who defeated the
pro-Russia socialist Ion Ceban. Nastase has announced he will appeal the
decision to the Supreme Court of Justice and has called for street protests.
The decisions made by the courts have already triggered protests in the country
and reactions from the European Union and the US embassy in Chisinau, who have
called for the appeal procedures to be carried out in a transparent manner. In
Bucharest, the Foreign Minister Teodor Melescanu has warned that the
invalidation of mayoral elections might affect the stability of the republic,
and the right-wing opposition has voiced support for Nastase. If Nastase’s win
is not validated by a higher instance, Chisinau will be headed by an interim
mayor until the local election normally due next year.

TENNIS – Romanian tennis player Mihaela Buzarnescu,
ranking 29th in the WTA classification, will today play against the Ukrainian
Elina Svitolina, no. 5 WTA, in the quarter finals of the Birmingham tournament,
with 850 thousand dollars in prize money. If she wins, Buzarnescu will take on
the winner of the match between Petra Kvitova (no.8 WTA) and Julia Goerges (no.
13 WTA). In the third round of this year’s Roland Garros tournament, Buzarnescu
defeated Svitolina 2-0.

BAD WEATHER – The Romanian Meteorological
Administration has issued a code yellow warning for bad weather, in place on
Friday for three quarters of the country. Torrential rain, powerful gusts of
wind and storms will be reported in most regions. For the south and south-east
of the country, the warning is valid until Saturday morning. The Hydrology
Institute has too issued a code yellow warning for flooding, affecting the
counties in the north, center and east, in place until Saturday. Temperatures
are dropping all over the country, with highs ranging from 19 to 34 degrees.