The Week in Review: March 5-9

A roundup of the week's main stories

Daniela Budu, 10.03.2018, 12:58

The relations between Romania and Serbia are very good and they will become even better, said Romanian President Klaus Iohannis, who met in Bucharest with his Serbian counterpart Aleksandar Vučić. The two presidents talked about bilateral relations and measures to boost the growing economic relations. Interconnection in the energy and transport sectors is equally important, the Romanian President underlined, adding that it will facilitate economic exchanges between the two countries. As regards the Romanians in Serbia and the Serbs in Romania, President Iohannis mentioned their role in strengthening the relations of the two countries. The two presidents also talked about Serbia’s European aspirations and the way in which Romania could support Serbia in its European integration efforts. President Iohannis said that one could not speak of evolution in that direction unless a solution was found to the Kosovo issue.

“No one from the outside can impose a solution, however the solution may be talked over with relevant actors. No matter the solution, it should be correct and should comply with both sides’ requirements. I cannot think of a solution for Kosovo that might be refused by the Serbs, just as I cannot imagine a solution for Kosovo that might be refused by any stakeholder.”

We recall that Romania is one of the 5 EU member states that did not recognize the independence of the former Serbian province with a majority Albanian population, declared 10 years ago. In turn, the Serbian president expressed his gratitude for the support granted by Romania for his country’s European accession and reminded that Belgrade would do its best to work out a compromise solution.

The Romanian justice in the limelight

The Romanian state has to receive one billion Euros representing the amount to be confiscated from the people prosecuted by the National Anti-Corruption Directorate in corruption cases, said the head of the institution Laura Codruta Kovesi. The chief prosecutor pointed out that when talking about freezing the criminals’ assets, reference is made only to the assets found on Romania’s territory. She also mentioned the criminals’ tendency to open accounts in banks from other countries. According to Laura Codruta Kovesi, it is now the obligation of the fiscal bodies in Romania to enforce court decisions as soon as possible. In 2017 prosecutors managed to freeze assets worth more than 2 million Euros. Upon the presentation of the 2017 activity report of the Public Ministry, Romania’s prosecutor general Augustin Lazăr announced that prosecutors started investigations in almost 1,750,000 cases, solved more than 550 thousand cases and legal action was taken against almost 60 thousand defendants. Of these, 35% violated road traffic legislation, the main two causes being the precarious road infrastructure and driver’s behavior. The prosecutor general also mentioned the increased incidence of domestic violence and of juvenile delinquency, around 4 thousand minors having been sent to court. The European Commission justice report for Romania notes that the “irreversibility of progress in the fight against corruption was recently put at risk”. The Commission says the plans of the leftist parliamentary majority to amend the justice laws and the pressures put on magistrates “risk harming judicial independence and undoing progress achieved over the past 10 years”.

Romania’s economy in European context

Limited progress — this is the conclusion of the European Commission’s report on the manner in which Romania solved Brussels’ recommendations in the economic area. The report notes that Bucharest will have to make considerable efforts this year to fulfil its fiscal obligations and in the area of tax collection in order to achieve its medium-term budget objective. On the other hand, after having the highest growth rate in the European Union in 2017, with 7% more than the previous year, Romania will also see a robust growth rate this year. This view was voiced recently by the National Bank of Romania, which notes, however, that growth will slow down in 2019. This projection is also found in the latest estimates by the Standard & Poor’s rating agency. Thus, Romania may see a 4.7% economic growth this year, followed by a 3.5% rate in the 2019-2021 period. Experts say political volatility is a problem, but that more worrying still are the frequent attempts to modify the legislation.

Romania is confronted with an immunoglobulin crisis

To solve its immunoglobulin crisis, which has a major impact on the lives of people suffering from immune disorders, Romania has officially requested help from other European Union countries, by activating both the EU Civil Protection Mechanism, a body created to provide efficient management of disasters, as well as the NATO mechanism for immunoglobulin. Romania has ended up in this situation after producers who supplied over 80% of the demand withdrew from the market, thus generating a crisis that is yet to be resolved. In other health news, the flu death toll in Romania is quickly approaching 100, with people dying every day for the past week. Health Minister Sorina Pintea says there is no need to declare an epidemic at this stage.

(Translated by C. Mateescu an