March 10, 2019

A roundup of domestic and international news

Newsroom, 10.03.2019, 14:25

KOVESI – The special
department established to investigate magistrates in Bucharest has announced
that the former chief-prosecutor of the National Anticorruption Directorate,
Laura Codruta Kovesi, is being prosecuted for setting up an organized crime
group and for complicity in unfair repression. Kovesi is accused that over
2015-2016 she coordinated an organized crime group established by two
prosecutors and one judicial police officer, suspected of abusive prosecution,
unfair repression, decision influencing and misleading the judicial
authorities. The former head of the National Anticorruption Directorate has
stated that all these accusations are mere fabrications, aimed at denigrating
her. Laura Codruta Kovesi has also been accused of official misconduct, perjury
and bribe taking. We recall that the former head of the National Anticorruption
Directorate was sacked last summer. The Justice Minister Tudorel Toader accused
her, among other things, of defying Parliament’s authority and challenging the
Romanian Constitutional Court’s rulings.

EU PROSECUTOR – The European
Parliament President Antonio Tajani has sent an official letter to the Romanian
Minister of European Affairs and acting president of the EU Council, George
Ciamba, announcing him that Laura Codruta Kovesi is the European Parliament’s
candidate for the office of European Chief Prosecutor. After the recent
hearings in the civil liberties and budgetary control committees of the European
Parliament, Laura Codruta Kovesi has outranked her opponents Jean-Francois
Bohnert of France and Andres Ritter of Germany. Previously, the Conference of
Presidents of the European Parliament had decided to support the nomination of
Ms Kovesi for the office of chief prosecutor of the future European Public
Prosecutor’s Office. The chief prosecutor will be appointed after negotiations
between the European Parliament and the Council of the member states, which
support the French candidate. The European Prosecutor’s Office, which would
become operational by the end of 2020, will be an independent body of the EU,
which will have the power to investigate and prosecute crimes affecting the EU
budget. The chief-prosecutor will have a
7 term, which cannot be renewed.

BREXIT – British leaders have
rejected the EU’s proposal to allow the UK to unilaterally leave the customs
union after Brexit, provided it preserveS a border free of control between
Northern Ireland and the Republic. The leader of the House of Commons was
deeply disappointed with the proposal and said she did not understand Brussels’
game. The president of the Conservative Party has told the BBC that the
solution proposed by the European negotiator compromises the country’s unity.
Talks on redefining the Brexit deal have reached a deadlock, less than three
weeks until the deadline set by the Cabinet headed by Theresa May. According to
the Radio Romania correspondent in London, a new vote on the agreement is to be
held on Tuesday, but several conservatives have already announced they will not
support the premier.

MOLDOVA – The
Constitutional Court of the Republic of Moldova has confirmed the results of
February 24th parliamentary elections and has validated the 101 mandates.
Also, the Court has rejected the appeals made by the ACUM electoral bloc, which
called for the invalidation of the election and of the mandates of the deputies
elected in 5 precincts. In the future parliament, the pro-Russia socialists
headed by the president Igor Dodon will have 35 seats, the ruling left of the
center Democratic Party 30, the opposition ACUM bloc 26, the populist Sor party
7 and 3 seats went to independent MPs. The Democratic Party has several times
invited the ACUM bloc to negotiations for a parliamentary majority, but the
latter declined.

VISA – The EU
has announced that as of 2021, the US citizens will need visas to travel to the
Schengen area. The Americans will need a valid passport, a credit or debit card
and an e-mail address in order to apply for an ETIAS (European Travel Informer
and Authorization System) visa. Minors will only need a passport and an ETIAS
registration. Currently, the US citizens do not need a visa for stays shorter
than 90 days in the Schengen area. Similar to other countries and regions in
the world, Europe has recently decided to improve their security level to avoid
any further problems with illegal migration and terrorism reads the ETIAS
website. In 2016, the EC published for the first time a report, in which it
called on the US to waver visas for five member countries: Bulgaria, Cyprus,
Croatia, Poland and Romania, because, according to the EU’s rules, all European
citizens must benefit from the same treatment.

CAR-SCRAPPING – In Romania, the
scar-scrapping programmes have been changed. On Monday, the Government will
discuss a bill amending the emergency decree on approving the programme that
stimulates the purchase of new vehicles. The bill stipulates that, for the
vehicles that have an internal combustion engine, the purchase price cannot
exceed 50,000 RON (10,500 Euro), plus VAT. For hybrid vehicles, the purchase
price cannot exceed 100,000 RON, plus VAT, and for electric and electric hybrid
vehicles, the price cannot exceed 150,000 RON plus VAT.

TENNIS – The Romanian tennis player Simona Halep, no.2 in
the WTA rankings, is today playing against the Ukrainian Katerina Kozlova (no.
11 WTA) in the third round of the Indian Wells tournament, with 9 million
dollars in prize money. In the second round, Halep defeated the Czech Barbora
Strycova (no.50 WTA) 6-2, 6-4. Also today, in the doubles competition, the
Romanian – American team Monica Niculescu / Abigail Spears will play against
the pair made up of the Canadian Gabriela Dabrowksi and Yifan Xu of China in
the round of 16. In the men’s doubles, the Romanian Horia Tecau and the Dutch
Jean – Julien Rojer have qualified for the round of 16. In the next round,
Tecau and Rojer will play against the 8th-seeds Henri Kontinen of
Finland/John Peers of Australia.