September 18, 2018
Three Seas Initiative summit continues Tuesday in Bucharest, Constitutional Court discusses notifications by President Iohannis over justice laws
Newsroom, 18.09.2018, 12:57
Three Seas Initiative — The Three Seas Initiative summit continues Tuesday in Bucharest with a plenary session devoted to energy, transports and digital interconnection. The summit was opened on Monday by a Business Forum, when the participants signed a Joint Declaration on the setting up of a network of Chambers of Commerce of the Three Seas Initiative as well as a Letter of Intent related to the creation of an investment fund of the same initiative. President Klaus Iohannis has pointed out that the Three Seas Initiative needed to go to another level, that of concrete economic projects and pragmatic results. Three Seas Initiative is a flexible political platform at presidential level that gathers 12 EU member states located between the Baltic, Adriatic and Black Seas.
Referendum — The Romanian government is today discussing the technical aspects related to the organization of the referendum on redefining the concept of family. On Monday, Romania’s Constitutional Court decided that the law for the revision of the Constitution which stipulates that the family is based on the freely consented union between a man and a woman, and not between spouses as it is stipulated at present, observes constitutional provisions. The government is to establish a date for the referendum and other technical, administrative and financial aspects. The campaign will start upon the announcement of the date of the referendum. The law for the revision of the Constitution in the sense of redefining the concept of family is based on a citizens’ initiative of some Christian organizations that managed to obtain 3 million signatures. The initiative is being contested by the associations defending the civil rights and liberties, including those of sexual minorities.
CCR — Romania’s Constitutional Court is today discussing the notifications made by President Klaus Iohannis in relation to the changes brought to the Law on the status of judges and prosecutors and the Law on the Superior Council of Magistracy. Among the articles contested by the presidency are those related to cases of dismissal of judges and prosecutors, to the elimination of the written examination for promotion to the position of judge at the High Court of Cassation and Justice, to the impairment of the constitutional role of the Supreme Council of Magistracy as a guarantor of the independence of the judiciary, as well as to the functioning of the Judicial Inspection. Klaus Iohannis has toughly criticized the modifications brought to the criminal legislation. They have been also contested by the opposition parties and the High Court of Cassation and Justice that have, in turn, submitted notifications to the Constitutional Court of Romania.
Eurostat — 48% of Bucharest’s inhabitants are discontented with the schools and education facilities in their city, show data published by Eurostat based on a 2015 survey that covered 24 EU capitals. Alongside Bucharesters, the Europeans who are the most discontented with the schools in their city are the inhabitants of Sofia, Bulgaria (47%). In exchange, the inhabitants of Dublin, Ljubljana, Nicosia and Helsinki are content with their schools. As for public transportation, the highest level of contentment was reported in Zurich (97%), Vienna (95%) and Helsinki (93%). At the other end, the most discontented with public transportation are the inhabitants of 16 cities among which Athens, Warsaw, Budapest, Bucharest, Riga, Bratislava and Rome. The biggest differences have been reported in terms of air quality, the highest number the inhabitants discontented with the air quality being in Krakow, Ostrava and Bucharest. In 62 cities most respondents said they were content with the level of noise while the citizens of Istanbul, Bucharest, Palermo and Athens are among those most discontented with the noise level.
Rome — The Romanian justice minister Tudorel Toader continues, Tuesday, his visit to Rome, at the invitation of his Italian counterpart, Alfondo Bonafede. On Monday, after the visit to a penitentiary with almost 100 Romanian detainees, the two ministers talked about bilateral cooperation and collaboration during Romania’s presidency of the EU Council in the first half of 2019. They also tackled issues related to the transfer of convicts from one country to another as well as the situation of minors from mixed families in which parents are in conflict. (news translated by Lacramioara Simion)
