July 18, 2018 UPDATE

Constitutional Court of Romania postpones discussing certain notifications for autumn, Legal cooperation between Romania and Germany

Newsroom, 18.07.2018, 19:08

CCR — The Constitutional Court of Romania on Wednesday postponed for September 18 discussing the notification made by President Klaus Iohannis in relation to modifying and amending the law on the organization and functioning of the Superior Council of Magistracy. President Iohannis claims that Parliament rejected, without any motivation, his request for re-examination of the provisions related to the functioning of the Superior Council of Magistracy, in which he showed that the role of the president as a guarantor of the independence of the judiciary and the functioning of the Judicial Inspection was affected. Also on Wednesday the Constitutional Court rejected the notification of the opposition Liberal Party and Save Romania Union on the modifications to the status of judges and prosecutors and postponed for September 25 debating the notifications of the two parties and of the Supreme Court related to the draft law modifying the criminal procedure code and the law on judicial organization. In another development, the Constitutional Court admitted Wednesday the notifications made by President Iohannis, and the opposition parties: the Liberal Party, Save Romania Union and the People’s Movement Party in relation to the law on the setting up of the Sovereign Fund for Development and Investments. The president of the Court Valer Dorneanu pointed out that the law was declared unconstitutional because the fund should not have been set up by a law but through a government decision. The Constitutional Court of Romania also admitted the notification regarding the right to free movement and stay of same sex spouses in the spirit of the European Court of Justice.

Legal cooperation — The Romanian chief prosecutor Augustin Lazar on Wednesday talked in Bucharest with Michael Roth, minister of state for Europe with Germany’s Foreign Ministry. According to a communiqué of the General Prosecutor’s Office the two officials talked about bilateral and international legal cooperation, about the progress made by Romania in reforming the judiciary and fighting corruption as well as about current judicial issues, including the recent legislative modifications. Michael Roth remarked the progress made by the Romanian judicial system in the past years but expressed interest in and concern over the recent changes to the criminal legislation, the communiqué also shows.

Polo — Romania’s national men’s water polo team obtained their first victory on Wednesday at the European Championships in Barcelona, after defeating Slovakia 9-5, in Group D. On Monday, in their debut match, the Romanians were defeated 5-11 by Serbia, holder of the continental title. The Romanians will play the last match of the group on Friday against Russia. The best 16 European water polo teams are participating in the 2018 championships. In the previous European Championship held two years ago the Romanian team was ranked 10th, their best performance being the 4th place in 1993 and 2006.

Free trade agreement — ‘The signing of the free trade agreement between the EU and Japan is a huge chance for Romanian exporters, who should be aware of the opportunities presented to them. Romania should not miss the opportunity of being massively present on the market of the world’s 3rd biggest economy, said Stefan Radu Oprea, the Romanian minister for the Business Environment, Trade and Entrepreneurship. We recall that on July 17 the EU and Japan signed, in Tokyo, a free trade agreement that will eliminate nearly all tariffs on bilateral trade exchanges between the two sides. This is the biggest trade agreement ever negotiated by the EU, and after ratification in the European Parliament, Japan and the EU will create a free trade area with 600 million inhabitants, that will account for almost one thirds of the world’s GDP.

Romania – Austria Cooperation — Economic relations with Austria are solid and have a still unexploited potential, said Wednesday the Romanian Foreign Minster Teodor Melesanu after meeting in Bucharest his Austrian counterpart, Mrs. Karin Kneissel. Austria, which on July 1 took over the EU’s rotating presidency, remains the second largest foreign investors in Romania and Romania is interested in continuing to attract further Austrian investments, minister Melescanu added. The Romanian foreign minister showed that the Romanian community was very well integrated within the Austrian society, the Romanian community being the second largest community of European citizens in Austria. In turn, the Austrian Foreign Minister pointed out that the talks touched upon such issues as education, human rights and energy. Karin Kneissel underlined that strengthening the rule of law was an important discussion.

Inflation — June was the 5th consecutive month when Romania reported the highest annual inflation rate among EU states, with an increase in consumption prices of 4.7%, on the rise in comparison with an annual inflation rate of 4.6% reported in May, show data made public on Wednesday by Eurostat. The annual inflation rate within the EU stagnated in June at 2%, a similar value being reported in the Euro zone. Among the EU states, high annual inflation rates were also reported in Estonia (3.9%) and Hungary (3.2%). In early May, the National Bank of Romania revised upwards to 3.6% the inflation forecast for the end of 2018, the previous forecast pointing to a 3.5% inflation rate in 2018.

Chess — On Wednesday Romania won gold in the boy’s section and silver in the girls’ section at the U -18 category of the European Youth Team Chess Championship hosted by the German city of Bad Blankenbrug between July 11 and 18. The boys’ team was made up of Gavrilescu, George Stoleriu, Alexandru-Bogdan Banzea and Victor Văsieşiu and the girls’ team of Daria-Miruna Lehaci and Alessia-Mihaela Ciolacu. (news translated and updated by Lacramioara Simion)