March 10, 2019 UPDATE

A roundup of domestic and international news

Newsroom, 10.03.2019, 19:23

BUDGET – The Romanian Senate and Chamber of Deputies are to gather in plenary session over the coming days to decide again on the draft 2019 state budget, as president Klaus Iohannis sent it back to Parliament for reexamination. Previously, he had notified the Constitutional Court, but the Court ruled that the draft budget was constitutional. Klaus Iohannis has stated that the draft budget was built on an unrealistic scenario, with no guarantees that its provisions could be implemented. On the other hand, the ruling coalition in Romania has termed presidents move as biased and irresponsible. According to the Social Democratic Party, the senior partner in the ruling coalition, the 2019 budget includes all the resources necessary to support all major economic sectors.

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 Parliaments authority and challenging the Romanian Constitutional Courts 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 Parliaments 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 Prosecutors 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 Prosecutors 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-year term, which cannot be renewed.

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 will be taken by 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 EUs rules, all European citizens must benefit from the same treatment.

CRASH – Until Sunday evening, Ethiopian authorities had sent no notification as to the existence of Romanian citizens among the victims of the Boeing 737 MAX crash near Addis Ababa, according to the Romanian Foreign Ministry. Passengers of more than 30 nationalities were on board the plane owned by Ethiopian Airlines, which crashed on Sunday morning shortly after takeoff. A companys representative has told reporters that the pilot reported technical difficulties and asked for clearance to return to Addis Ababa. He was given clearance to turn back, but the plane crashed 62 km south-east of the Ethiopian capital. The plane was heading for Nairobi, Kenya. None of the 148 passengers and 8 crew survived. The plane had been delivered to the Ethiopian Airlines in November last year and had flown more than 1,200 hours. This is the second accident involving a Boeing 737 MAX, a new model, which started being used in 2017.

TENNIS – The Romanian tennis player Simona Halep won Februarys Shot of the Month, according to the WTA website. Simonas quick thinking and quicker reactions against Eugenie Bouchard in Dubai, in a match she won 7-6, 6-4, earned her fans votes. Second came the Ukrainian Elina Svitolina, followed by Donna Vekic of Croatia and Sofia Kenin of the US, both on third place.