October 7, 2018 UPDATE

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Newsroom, 07.10.2018, 18:51

FAMILY REFERENDUM -Romanians this weekend were invited to vote on a
proposed redefinition of the concept of family in the Constitution. The
initiators aimed to define family as an institution based on the marriage of
a man and a woman, rather than the marriage of spouses, as it is at present.
According to data released by the Central Electoral Bureau on Sunday, at 4 PM,
some 15,21% of the total number of eligible voters had cast their ballots so
far, many of them in urban communities. The Romanians living abroad could vote
in 378 polls hosted by diplomatic missions, consular offices, cultural
institutes and other locations. Most polls abroad were in Italy, Spain, the
Republic of Moldova, the USA, UK, France and Germany. The voting process abroad
will conclude on the US West Coast and in Canada on Monday morning, Romanian
time. Parliament has passed a bill rephrasing the Constitutional definition of
marriage, based on a citizen initiative signed by 3 million people. To pass,
the referendum needs to meet the 30% voter turnout threshold and 25% of votes cast
have to be valid.

LETTER – The European
Commission has sent a letter to Romanian authorities, asking a series of
questions regarding the new legislation in the justice field, in the wake of
certain information transpired in the local media. The Commission is closely
monitoring the developments in Romania, particularly the justice laws and the
bills to amend the Criminal Code and the Code of Criminal Procedure, the
Commission informs, adding that it is checking the conformity of the amendments
with EU legislation. The letter follows the October 3 debate in the European
Parliament on the rule of law in Romania, attended by Prime Minister Viorica
Dancila. The first vice-president of the European Commission, Frans Timmermans,
has warned Bucharest authorities the Commission will make a more thorough
evaluation of the situation in Romania, if necessary. In turn, Prime Minister
Dancila said Romania is observing the rule of law and will stick to its
pro-European track.

MOTION – The Chamber of Deputies on Monday will debate a simple
motion filed by the National Liberal Party in opposition against Economy
Minister Danut Andrusca. The Liberals accuse Andrusca of deliberately
destabilizing the country’s economy. Last week the Chamber voted against a
simple motion the Liberals filed against Finance Minister Eugen Teodorovici,
whom they accuse of failing to implement the taxing and budget strategy. The
opposition also calls for the elimination of the additional excise tax on fuel,
the start of major investment projects and the allotment of 100% of tax
revenues to local administration starting next year. Also this week the Senate
dismissed a simple motion against Transport Minister Lucian Sova, filed by the
National Liberal Party and Save Romania Union. The opposition accuses Sova of
poor management of the road and rail transport networks.

HEARING – Monday, October 8, will see the first hearing in the case
where Social-Democrat leader and Chamber of Deputies Speaker Liviu Dragnea was
sentenced to three years and six months imprisonment in the court of first
instance. In June, the High Court of Cassation and Justice handed Dragnea the
sentence for instigation to abuse of office. Anticorruption prosecutors say
Liviu Dragnea ordered the fictitious employment of two party members at the
Social Assistance and Child Protection Directorate. The two were paid with
taxpayer money, although they allegedly worked exclusively for the
Social-Democratic Party. Liviu Dragnea denied the accusations. In 2016, Dragnea
was handed a 2-year suspended prison sentence for attempted election fraud.
This summer the High Court cancelled the ruling to suspend the prison sentence.

EUROPEAN
WEEK OF REGIONS – The 2018 edition of the European Week of Regions and Cities kicks off
on Monday in Brussels, in the presence of European Commission president
Jean-Claude Juncker, the European Commissioner for Regional Policy, Corina
Cretu, the European Committee of the Regions president, Karl-Heinz Lambertsz
and European Parliament vice-president, Pavel Telicka. This year’s edition is a
special one, devoted to the European Commission’s cohesion policy proposal for
the 2021-2027 period. Decision-makers and local, regional, national and
European experts will take part in a series of debates as part of the most
important event devoted to cohesion policies at European level.

THEATRE FESTIVAL – Theatre companies from six countries, world
famous klezmer bands and artists will meet in Bucharest over October 7-14 as
part of the third edition of the TES FEST International Yiddish Theatre
Festival. The event is organized by the Jewish State Theatre to mark 70 years
since the institution was founded and 142 years since the first Yiddish
professional theatre was set up in Iasi, Romania, in 1876, by writer and artist
Abraham Goldfaden. Companies from the US, Israel, France, Moldova, Austria and
Poland are expected to attend. On the sidelines a series of related events,
such as workshops, meetings, film screenings and exhibitions about the history
and activity of the Jewish Theatre in Romania will also be held.

NOBEL PRIZE – The 2018 Nobel Prize awards season will come to a close on Monday, when
the Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences will be awarded. On Friday,Congolese gynecologist Denis Mukwege, who treated sex violence victims in
his home country, and Nadia Murad, a Kurdish human rights activist having survived
Islamic State sexual slavery, were awarded this year’s Nobel Peace Prize. The
Norwegian Nobel Committee explained the prize was awarded for their efforts to
end the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war. Both had a crucial
contribution to raising awareness with respect to this type of war crimes and
in fighting them.

(Translated by V. Palcu)