April 20, 2016

Ex-president Traian Basescu prosecuted for money laundering; NATO, Russia resume ambassador contacts

Newsroom, 20.04.2016, 12:00

Official visit – The President of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko, will be on an official visit to Romania on Thursday. He will have meetings in Bucharest with his Romanian counterpart Klaus Iohannis and with PM Dacian Cioloş. In February, the two presidents had a meeting on the sidelines of the Munich International Security Conference. The talks highlighted the progress made in several bilateral areas and the willingness of both sides to make headway in implementing the ongoing joint projects. The last high-level meeting took place on March 17, 2015, when Klaus Iohannis travelled to Kyiv.

Eurovision – Romania risks being excluded from the Eurovision, unless it immediately pays over 9 million euros to the European Broadcasting Union, the organiser of this European song contest. The Romanian public television corporation, which is experiencing severe financial difficulties, has accrued debts of nearly 15 million euros since 2011. Recently, the management of the public broadcaster announced the Romanian authorities that apart from Eurovision there are other major competitions, such as the forthcoming European football championship in France or the Rio Olympics, which might not be covered because of the debts and under-financing. According to its annual report, in 2015 the Romanian television corporation had losses of over 5 million euros. This year Eurovision will be held in Stockholm, between May 10 and 14. Romania, which has been taking part in the competition since 1994, is to be represented by Ovidiu Anton, with a song called “Moment of Silence.

Judicial cooperation – The Romanian Justice Minister, Raluca Prună, and her Spanish counterpart, Rafael Catala Polo, discussed on Wednesday in Bucharest the efficiency of the judicial systems of the two states, the organisation of courts, the strengthening of the prison infrastructure. The two officials also discussed aspects related to the judicial cooperation in criminal and civil matters. On Tuesday, Rafael Catala Polo had a meeting with the Romanian Foreign Minister, Lazăr Comănescu. They discussed the situation of the Romanians who live in Spain and apply for dual citizenship and the two countries joint project regarding the establishment of an International Court against Terrorism.

Judiciary – Romanias former right-wing president, Traian Băsescu, has been charged with a continuing offence of money laundering in a case prosecuted by the Office of the Prosecutor General. According to judicial sources, the case is related to land transactions in the Bucharest area. In 2000, when he was mayor general of Bucharest, Traian Băsescu purchased a substantially under-priced plot of land, which he subsequently sold for a lot more money. The ex-president confirmed, on his Facebook account, that he had been notified by the Prosecutor General of his being a suspect in a money laundering case. He mentioned however that in 2012 the criminal charges against him had been dropped. The case was re-opened in 2015.

Stock Market – The Bucharest Stock Exchange, jointly with various brokerage firms, promoted Romania as an investment destination to the global investors taking part in the annual conference in New York. These efforts are aimed at improving knowledge of the Romanian capital market and at attracting new capital flows into the national economy. Taking part in the New York conference were 45 investors, representing 31 investment funds which manage a combined 1,100 billion US dollars. A total of 15 companies listed on the Bucharest Stock Exchange had separate meetings with fund administrators.

Defence – The defence ministers of Romania, Bulgaria and Greece have recently agreed in Luxembourg that their countries should take steps to strengthen cooperation in the field. The meeting took place on the sidelines of the EU Foreign Affairs Council. The three ministers also discussed aspects related to the migration crisis and to the security structure, and agreed that joint action is required in order to handle the inflow of refugees.

NATO-Russia – NATO and Russia today resume ambassador contacts after two years of tensions generated by the Ukrainian crisis and Moscows annexation of Crimea in 2014. The Alliances Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg, said the talks would tackle the implementation of the Minsk peace agreements, regarding the resolution of the conflict in Ukraine, as well as means to prevent future incidents between NATO member countries and Russia, such as the recent one in the Baltic region, when Russian planes were too close to American vessels and aircraft. At Moscows request, terrorism was also included on the agenda.

Media Freedom – World press freedom declined in all regions in 2015, particularly in the two Americas, according to the annual report made public by Reporters without Borders today. Romania ranks 49. The country with the highest press freedom rates are Finland, the Netherlands and Norway. At the opposite pole are Turkmenistan, North Korea and Eritrea. The World Press Freedom Index covers 180 countries, has been published since 2002 and takes into account aspects like pluralism, mass media independence, self-censorship, the legislative framework, transparency, infrastructure and abuse.