October 29, 2014
A roundup of domestic and international news.
România Internațional, 29.10.2014, 12:00
The High Court of Cassation and Justice in Romania has decided that the outgoing vice-president of the Chamber of Deputies, Viorel Hrebenciuc be taken into preventive custody. He is accused of corruption in a case of illegal land retrocession. He is suspected along with other people, including his son, two MPs, who are also members of the Social-Democratic Party, a member of the ruling coalition and a few magistrates of having got involved in the illegal retrocession of tens of thousands of ha of forest and farmland. According to the National Anti-Corruption Directorate, the damage caused to the National Forest Administration Romsilva amounts to over 300 million Euros. In another development, the former minister of communications, Gabriel Sandu, the mayor of the central-Eastern town of Piatra Neamt, Gheorghe Stefan and businessmen Nicolae Dumitru and Dorin Cocos have been taken into preventive custody in the Microsoft case. They are suspected of having brokered overrated IT license deals for the education system in exchange for millions of Euros. Nine former ministers are under investigation in that case.
An agriculture and energy self-reliant Romania can support the development of all countries in the region, Romanian Prime Minister, Victor Ponta said in Bucharest. The Romanian Prime Minister along with Han Changfu, the Agriculture Minister of China, the world’s largest market, and his Romanian counterpart, Daniel Constantin attended the opening of the INDAGRA International Trade Fair of products and equipment in agriculture, horticulture, wine growing and animal breeding. Prime Minister Ponta said that if the potential of the Romanian agriculture was used not only to meet domestic needs, but also for export as much as possible, then, agriculture, along with energy would provide Romania’s economic self-reliance and would be a big development driving force in the future. The Prime Minister recalled that the port of Constanta was number one among the European ports as a transit area for the export of farm products. Participating in the Indagra Trade Fair, the most complex event of the kind in Romania, are 700 companies from 27 countries.
In 2014, Romania ranks 48th in a chart of regulatory efficiency in the economic environment, out of 189 countries made public by the World Bank in Washignton. The report entitled “Doing Buisness 2015” has taken into account several criteria, such as the start of a business, getting a loan, access to the electricity network and cross border transactions. Romania, which last year ranked 50th, has the most significant improvement in the tax payment facilities. A person needs eight days and has to carry out five procedures to open a business in Romania, the report “Doing Buisness 2015” says.
In Ukraine, president Petro Porosenko’s Bloc and the People’s Front of prime minister Arseni Iateniuk continue the negotiations on the membership of the future pro-Western government coalition. According to Radio Romania’s correspondent in Kiev, the People’s Front wants Iateniuk to further be prime minister and Oleksandr Turcinov to be speaker of Parliament. Winners of last Sunday’s parliamentary elections with over 20% of the votes each, the two parties might draw other parties into the coalition, parties that stand for the break up with Russia and EU accession. The political negotiations in Kiev take place while the file of Russian gas delivery is being discussed again in Brussels, against the backdrop of tension triggered by Moscow’s support for the separatists in Eastern Ukraine. We’ll revert to the issue later in RN.
On Tuesday, thousands of people continued to demonstrate in Budapest against the intention of the government of conservative Prime Minister Viktor Orban to introduce a tax on the use of the Internet. The protest was triggered by the fact that the authorities had not withdrawn the draft law submitted to Parliament, as some 10,000 people had demanded in a similar demonstration on Sunday. Protesters of various political orientations denounce the negative effects of the draft law on small entrepreneurs and the access to information and education in the poor regions. According to press agencies, the European Commission has sharply criticized the draft law.
An orbital Sciences Corporation’s Antares rocket performing its fifth flight to supply the International Space Station exploded within seconds after launch from the Virginia coast on Tuesday. NASA has confirmed that the mishap resulted in no human casualties and that the International Space Station still has enough food supplies.
The pair made up of Romanian Horia Tecau and Dutch Julien Rojer are today taking on the pair made of Polish Lukasz Kubot and Swedish Robert Lindstedt in the eighth finals of the Paris-Bercy tennis tournament with prize money of 2.9 million dollars. If they qualify for the quarter finals, Tecau and Rojer will take part in the Champions’ Tournament in London. In the women’s Tournament of Champions held in Singapore last week, Romanian Simona Halep reached the final, losing in two sets to the WTA leader, American Serena Williams.
