June 5, 2015 UPDATE

For a roundup of domestic and international events, click here.

Newsroom, 05.06.2015, 12:15

INVESTIGATION – Romanias Prime Minister Victor Ponta said he would not resign, as President Klaus Iohannis has urged him, after the National Anti-Corruption Directorate opened a criminal investigation in his name. The President said this is an impossible situation for the Prime Minister of Romania to stand charges, and has warned that the worst-case scenario right now would be a political crisis. The National Anti-Corruption Directorate on Friday announced that the leader of the Social-Democratic Party, Prime Minister Victor Ponta is prosecuted for having forged documents, for accessory to aggravated tax evasion and money laundering in a corruption case involving the energy companies Turceni and Rovinari. The allegations relate to his work as a lawyer and to certain judicial counselling contracts involving Victor Ponta. In the same case, anti-corruption prosecutors also decided to prosecute Ponta for conflict of interests while acting Prime Minister. On Friday, Prime Minister Victor Ponta sent a letter to the embassies of the United States and EU countries in Bucharest, saying he would use all legal means at his disposal to prove all evidence brought against him are ungrounded. We recall that in the case involving the Rovinari and Turceni energy companies, the former transport minister in the Ponta Cabinet, Dan Sova, has been prosecuted for abuse of power. He is accused of having cashed in hundreds of thousands of euros to forge agreements that brought the state damages worth 16 million euros. On Friday, prosecutors brought further accusations against Sova and placed him under judicial control for 60 days. The Directorate has asked the Senate twice to green-light Sovas detainment, but every time Senators refused to allow it.

MOTION – The National Liberal Party, the main opposition party in Romania, on Friday submitted to Parliament a censure motion against the Government headed by the Social Democrat PM Victor Ponta, on the issue of postal voting. The Liberals are accusing Ponta of having violated, at last years election, the right to vote of the Romanians outside the country borders and of blocking the staging of partial elections in the country, in numerous counties, towns and villages, which have been left without the administrative leadership elected in 2012, at the local elections.

CVM – Romania has reported significant progress in recent years under the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism (CVM), although additional efforts are necessary before this process is finalized, European Commission vice-president Frans Timmermans said on Friday in Bucharest, after meeting with president Klaus Iohannis. The Romanian president underlined that he would continue to help, as far as the Constitution allows him, consolidate reforms of the judiciary and the fight against corruption. The two officials als tackled Romanias Schengen accession and regional developments. On Friday, the European Commission vice-president also met with representatives of judicial institutions to discuss the CVM. On Thursday, upon attending a forum on the functioning of European institutions held in Giurgiu, southern Romania, Timmermans said the mechanism monitoring the justice systems of Romania and Bulgaria would remain in place as long as necessary.

UKRAINE – The UN Security Council met in an emergency session on Friday. The Council called on all parties involved in the Ukrainian conflict to observe the ceasefire provided by the peace agreements signed in February in Minsk. An upsurge of violence gripped the separatist east over the last few days, killing tens of people. Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko believes Russia is preparing a large-scale ingression in Ukraine. Since Wednesday, clashes between Ukrainian military and pro-Russian insurgents have escalated. The United States and the European Union have condemned the renewed violence, saying that this is by far the worst violation of the February ceasefire signed in Minsk. According to the Kremlin however, the deterioration of the situation in the Donbas region is directly linked to the upcoming G-7 Summit, where the US and the EU are expected to coordinate positions and renewing and possibly expanding sanctions on Russia, press agencies report.

GREECE – The IMF has conceded to grant the Greek government a reprieve for the payment of the instalment due this month of its huge debt, deferring it to the end of June. Greece was due today to pay back over 300 million dollars – the first instalment of four. The IMF announced it would consolidate the 1.6-million Euro debt due in June, specifying that member states have the possibility of consolidating several instalments into a single one. Greece is negotiating with its creditors, the EU and the IMF, an agreement to release the last batch of international loans, worth 7.2 billion Euro, allowing it to pay its debts, according to France Press. Greek finance minister Alexis Tsipras talked in Brussels with EC President Jean-Claude Junker about this agreement, but the two failed to reach an agreement. In spite of this, Tsipras continues to claim that his country would pay its debts.

DEATH – Tarik Aziz, the former Iraqi Foreign Minister in Saddam Husseins regime passed away on Friday, aged 79, in a hospital in southern Iraq, after several years spent in detention, Reuters reports. A close follower of Hussein up until his demise in 2003, Tarik Aziz surrendered to the Americans when US troops invaded Iraq that year. The former Foreign Minister was sentenced to death in 2010, being accused with crimes against humanity for his oppression of religious parties in the 1980s. The only Christian in Saddam Husseins inner circle, Tarik Aziz was one of the best-known Iraqi leaders.