February 15, 2017

Emergency decree repealing the controversial amendments to the criminal codes on the agenda of the Chamber of Deputies/ PM Grindeanu in Brussels/ Military drills in the Black Sea

Newsroom, 15.02.2017, 14:03

GOVT DECREE — The Romanian Government’s emergency decree repealing the controversial amendments to the criminal codes, which have caused a large-scale political crisis over the past two weeks, is today on the agenda of the Chamber of Deputies. On Tuesday the plenum of the Senate adopted the decree unanimously. In another move, the Government headquarters were again picketed last night by several hundred protesters. Since the start of the crisis on January 31, hundreds of thousands of Romanians from the country and abroad have called for the resignation of the coalition government made up of the Social Democratic Party and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats, whom they accuse of having tried to amend the criminal codes to exonerate from legal responsibility certain corrupt politicians and members of the local and central administration. The Social Democrats denied the accusations claiming that they only wanted to harmonize the legislation in the field with rulings of the Constitutional Court. In this context, President Klaus Iohannis initiated a referendum on the continuation of the anti-corruption fight. But government supporters accuse the president of not respecting his role of moderator and of having embraced the cause of the anti-government protesters.

BRUSSELS — The new defense minister, Gabriel Leş, is today participating in Brussels in a meeting with his NATO counterparts. According to a Romanian Foreign Ministry communiqué, the agenda of the meeting includes the priorities for Euro-Atlantic security, among which funding of defense and equitable assumption of responsibilities. On the sidelines of the meeting of NATO members, the Romanian defense minister will also participate in the Global Coalition against DAESH meeting organized upon the initiative of the new US Defense Secretary James Mattis.

EC — The Romanian PM Sorin Grindeanu will meet Friday in Brussels with the president of the European Council Donald Tusk and also with the president of the European Commission Jean Claude Juncker. The Romanian PM said he would provide the European leaders with clarifications regarding the situation created in Romania following the adoption of an emergency decree amending the criminal law, a decree that was subsequently repealed following the street’s pressure. Jean Claude Juncker alongside the first vice-president of the EC Frans Timmermans warned the Romanian government not to undermine the fight against corruption. In a letter sent early this month to the two European officials PM Grindeanu said that one of the priorities of his government was to fight the phenomenon of corruption.

MILITARY DRILLS — Russian military planes neared to a dangerous distance a US Navy destroyer involved in military drills in the Black Sea, an American official announced on Tuesday evening. The incident occurred on February 10 when the US destroyer USS Porter was participating in a naval exercise coordinated by Romania. The Russian planes neared the American ship in a “hesitant and unprofessional way”, the US Command in Europe pointed out. USS Porter tried to contact the Russian pilots but received no answer. As many as 2,800 soldiers from 7 NATO states, Romania, Bulgaria, the US, Greece, Turkey, Canada and Spain, as well as from Ukraine participated between February 1- 10 in a naval drill that took place in the Black Sea.

INFLATION — In Romania the annual inflation rate became positive in January, after 19 months, in the context in which consumption prices increased by 0.1% as compared to January 2016 against the backdrop of increased prices of foodstuffs and smaller prices for non-food products. The annual inflation rate reported in December 2016 was minus 0.5% as compared to December 2015. The national bank revised downwards the inflation forecast for the end of 2017 to 1.7%.

COLLISION — 5 people among, whom a Romanian citizen, have died and at least 12 have been wounded today in Hungary in a car crash involving a Romanian bus. According to the Romanian Foreign Ministry, 6 Romanian citizens, who were wounded, were taken to hospitals in Szeged and Mako, in the southeast of Hungary. The Hungarian authorities continue searches to establish the circumstances of the accident. They have confirmed the identity of all people involved in the crash. The collision took place near the Nădlac checkpoint on the Romanian — Hungarian border. (translation by L. Simion)