The Week in Review 25-31.03.2019

A look at the main stories in Romania this week.

Bogdan Matei, 30.03.2019, 14:30

The Romanian embassy in Israel, reason for polemics in Romania

King Abdullah II of Jordan has cancelled
his 3-day visit to Romania scheduled to start on Monday. He made this decision
following the Romanian prime minister Viorica Dancila’s announcement regarding
the government’s intention to relocate the Romanian embassy in Israel from Tel
Aviv to Jerusalem. Prime minister Dancila underlined that a decision in this
regard would be passed after what she called the completion of the analysis by
all constitutional actors involved in the decision-making process in Romania
and with the full consensus of decision makers. The prime minister made these
statements at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee Conference (AIPAC),
which she was invited to attend. President Klaus Iohannis pointed out that the
final decision in this regard belongs to him, given that, according to the Constitution,
he is in charge of Romania’s foreign policy decisions and he is also Romania’s
representative at external level. The EU has communicated its stand on the
issue and claims that the only realistic solution to the conflict between
Israel and Palestine is that of two states with the same capital.

In October 2018, the Romanian Foreign
Ministry presented the government with an analysis of the effects of moving the
Romanian embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. The document includes
pro and against arguments, said the Romanian foreign minister Teodor Melescanu,
who nevertheless abstained from expressing his ministry’s recommendation. The
idea of relocating the Romanian embassy in Israel was first launched by the
strongman of the government coalition in Bucharest, the Social Democratic
leader Liviu Dragnea, at the end of 2017 at a private TV station. His
statements caused virulent reactions from the rightist opposition. Also the
Palestinian Authority has temporarily recalled its ambassador to Bucharest.

Start for European Parliament election campaign

Thursday was the last day when parties,
political alliances and independent candidates in Romania could submit their
candidacies for the EP elections due on May 26. The lists were submitted to the
Central Electoral Bureau alongside 200 thousand support signatures in the case
of parties and 100 thousand signatures for independent candidates. By April 6,
the Central Electoral Bureau is expected to issue the approval or rejection
decisions of candidacies, and by April 12 candidates are expected to challenge
the Bureau’s decisions. Subsequently, the order on voting ballots will be
established following a drawing of lots.

The election campaign will start on April
27 and will come to an end in the morning of May 25. According to a latest
opinion survey on voting intentions, the Social Democratic Party (PSD) and the
opposition Liberal Party are almost on a par, with 26% of the votes. Next come
the 2020 Alliance of the Save Romania Union and PLUS parties with 15% and the Alliance
of Liberals and Democrats, a junior partner in the governing coalition, and the
Pro Romania party (made up of dissidents from the PSD) both with 9%. The Democratic
Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania would get 5% of the votes.

Referendum on justice

On Thursday President Klaus Iohannis
announced he would call a referendum on justice, to be held on the same day
with the European Parliament elections. He did not say what question would be on the ballot but he
vehemently criticized the governing coalition for issuing emergency decrees in
the justice field and for keeping the judiciary under permanent attack.
According to the president, it is illegitimate to issue an emergency decree on
justice matters before citizens can express their will in a referendum. In
reply, the Social Democratic leader Liviu Dragnea accused the president of
trying to subordinate the magistrates, and said he was close to filing a
complaint for high treason against Klaus Iohannis.

Corruption
and anti-corruption

The former head of the National Anti-Corruption
Directorate Laura Codruta Kovesi has been placed under ‘judicial control’ by
the prosecutors of the Section for investigating judges and prosecutors,
meaning that she is banned from leaving the country or speaking to the press. She
has been accused of abuse of office, bribe taking and false testimony. The file
was opened in December 2018 following a notification made by the former Social Democratic
deputy Sebastian Ghita, a fugitive who is hiding in Serbia after having been prosecuted
in several corruption files. Ghita claims that 8 years ago Kovesi asked him to
pay 200 thousand Euros for bringing back home from Indonesia, by plane, a
Romanian citizen on whose name an international arrest warrant had been issued
for large-scale economic crimes.

Meanwhile, the second round of negotiations between
the representatives of the Council of the EU and of the European Parliament for
the designation of the European chief prosecutor has ended without results. The
European Parliament supports as their favourite Mrs. Kovesi while the Council
of the EU the French Jean-François Bohnert. The next
rounds of negotiations are scheduled for April 4 and 10. The future European
chief prosecutor will have a 7-year mandate and the European Prosecutor’s
Office will become operational in late 2020.

International
sports competitions

Romania’s women’s volleyball team CSM Alba Blaj lost
the match, away from home, against the Italian team Busto Arsizio, 1-3, in the last
round of the CEV Cup final, the 2nd most important European
competition. In the first round the Italians had won 3-0. Last year, Alba also
played in the final of the Champions League which they lost, in Bucharest, to Turkish
side VakifBank Istanbul. Now news from football. Romania’s national football
team won 4-1 against the Faeroe Islands, on home ground, the match in Group F
of the preliminaries of the 2020 European Championship. In the debut match the
Romanians had lost to Sweden 1-2. The group also includes Spain, Norway and
Malta, and the first and second ranking teams will qualify to the final. The
drawing of lots for the Euro 2020 will take place in Bucharest on November 30. Bucharest
will also host 4 matches of the final tournament, three in the group stage and
one in the round of 16.