January 19-25

A roundup of the week's main stories

Roxana Vasile, 25.01.2014, 12:57

The European Commission has released its report on the Romanian judiciary

Early this week the European Commission has released its annual report on the Romanian justice system, as part of the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism. This year’s report was awaited with special interest, as some EU countries make Romania’s accession to Schengen conditional on the country’s progress in this respect. According to the EC report, Romania has made progress in many areas, and the key institutions in the justice system were found to work properly in spite of difficult circumstances. The Commission made a number of recommendations focusing on the judicial reform and fight against corruption, while also expressing some concern with respect to the independence of the judiciary. The report is not explicitly defined as overall positive or negative. Instead, its conclusions must be taken as such: some progress has been made in certain areas, and steps back were reported in others. According to Bucharest, Romania’s Schengen accession should not be tied to the conclusions of this report, but rather to technical criteria, which the country fully meets.

An airplane crash has political consequences

Two people dead, five injured, the Interior Minister resigning, second-rank government officials dismissed, and public outrage — this is the summary of the consequences of an airplane crash that took place Monday in western Romania. A small plane carrying medical personnel was forced to land in a forested isolated place in the Apuseni Mountains. The pilot and a young intern died, the co-pilot and four doctors were injured. Search operations started late and took seven hours, and the one who found the victims was not a professional rescuer, but a local. In the wake of the tragedy, Prime Minister Victor Ponta said this failure must lead to personal responsibility taking, to improved emergency response procedures and to thorough reflection on how public money is spent.

An international financial assessment mission is in Romania A joint mission of the IMF, European Commission and World Bank is in Bucharest until February the 5th. The talks with Romanian authorities focus on recent economic developments, the restructuring of state-owned companies, the better prioritizing and monitoring of public investments, the control of arrears and measures to offset the drop in public budget revenues. In addition, the IMF seeks to make sure that the budget deficit remains below 2.2% of the GDP, as stipulated in the stand-by loan agreement signed with Romania in the autumn of 2013. The international financial mission was originally scheduled for December 2013, but it was postponed after President Traian Basescu refused to sign the letter of intent to the IMF. The head of state was against an increase of the excise on fuels, and he has reiterated his views at a meeting with the IMF experts. The excise increase was postponed to April the 1st.

Poverty and labor force in Europe

Five years after hitting Europe, the economic crisis is far from over. A European Commission report for 2013 shows that unemployment, which in some EU countries has reached record levels, is a constant concern for the Brussels officials. It’s not just creating jobs that is important, says commissioner for social affairs Laszlo Andor, but also the quality of these jobs. It all depends on the type of job, the payment level, the number of working hours and the family situation. In Romania’s case, the European Commission report shows that the risk of poverty and social exclusion in the below-18 age category saw the highest increase, to 52% in 2012 compared to 2011. The unemployment rate, which has not reached alarming levels, dropped from 7.4 to 7%. Although most Romanians do have a job, they are poorly paid.

The Romanian President visits Israel and the Palestinian territories

The plea for peace in the Middle East was the main topic of the talks that Romanian President Traian Basescu has held this week with leaders in Tel Aviv and Ramallah and also with Jews originating from Romania or Romanian citizens living in the Palestinian territories. During his visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories, President Basescu told both his Israeli counterpart Shimon Peres and the Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas that Romania unreservedly supported the peace initiative of the US Secretary of State John Kerry. The Romanian President reiterated that peace is impossible without Israel having its security guaranteed and that Palestinians have the right to a state of their own. Traian Basescu did not hide the fact that he is interested in a completion of the peace negotiations also because both Israel and the Palestinian territories are home to many Romanian citizens, for whose lives the Bucharest authorities are directly responsible.

The 155 anniversary of the unification of the Romanian Principalities

The unification of the Romanian principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia was marked this year as well, 155 years after this historic moment. On January 24th 1859 Alexandru Ioan Cuza was elected ruler in both principalities and thanks to the radical reforms he promoted he laid the institutional foundation of modern Romania. In 1918 the process of establishing the Romanian nation state was completed by the Unification of the historical provinces with a majority Romania –speaking population with Romania. These provinces had been, for a long time, under the rule of the neighboring multinational empires.