May 21, 2017 UPDATE

Parliament to start hearings on Monday on the 2009 presidential election won by Traian Basescu

Newsroom, 21.05.2017, 19:14

LEGISLATION — The draft law on the unified pay scale, stipulating an increase of public sector salaries in several stages until 2022, will be discussed by Senate on Monday. Previously, the Senate’s Labour Committee included a number of amendments, including a 25% pay increase for local elected officials who implement EU funded projects and a 15% bonus for civil servants working with the institutions subordinated to the Environment Ministry. The bill provides for salary increases, in some cases going as far as by 200%, in all sectors.

HEARINGS — A parliamentary committee that probes into the presidential election of 2009 is to start hearings on Monday, and the first to be heard is the journalist and former political adviser Dan Andronic. He has recently stated that the heads of major public institutions at that time, including the Romanian Intelligence Service and the Prosecutor General’s Office, influenced the outcome of the vote to the benefit of Traian Basescu. The latter won a second presidential term in office in 2009, after a very narrow victory against the Social Democrat Mircea Geoana. Prosecutors have initiated criminal proceedings in this case, for suspected abuse of office and forgery of documents and election records.

EU — The Romanian Minister Delegate for European Affairs, Ana Birchall, takes part in Brussels on Monday in a meeting of the General Affairs Council held in an EU27 format, the Romanian Foreign Ministry announced. The participants will adopt a decision authorising the opening of the Brexit negotiations with the UK and nominating the Commission as the EU negotiator, and will endorse negotiating directives. On the sidelines of the meeting, Minister Ana Birchall will have talks with her Estonian counterpart, Matti Maasikas, about the priorities of the Estonian presidency of the EU Council and the main topics of discussion at EU level. The Romanian Minister Delegate for European Affairs mentioned that Bucharest attaches great importance to protecting the rights and interests of the Romanians living in UK.

INTERNATIONAL — The USA and the Arab monarchies in the Gulf region Sunday announced the set-up of a centre to fight against the financing sources that terrorism relies on. The announcement came during the visit of US President Donald Trump to Saudi Arabia, as a stage in his first international tour. In an address to leaders from over 40 Muslim and Arab countries given in Riyadh on Sunday, Trump called on Muslim countries not to give safe haven to terrorists. On Saturday, the first day of his visit, the USA and Saudi Arabia signed contracts of 380 billion US dollars, mainly in the oil sector and in arms procurement.

TENNIS — The Romanian tennis player Simona Halep, number 4 in the world, Sunday lost the final of the Rome tournament, which had 2.7 million US dollars in total prize money. Halep lost the final to the Ukrainian Elina Svitolina, no. 11 WTA. Last week the Romanian won the tournament in Madrid for the second consecutive year. The Rome final was the 24th played so far by Halep, who has won 15 tournaments in her career.

(translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)