August 10, 2023

A roundup of domestic and international news

Newsroom, 10.08.2023, 13:55

Bills.
The Romanian government has several bills on
the agenda of today’s meeting, including the amendment of the Criminal Code
article on incitement to hatred or discrimination. Currently, this article says
that inciting to hatred or discrimination against a category of people is
punishable by imprisonment from six months to three years or a fine. The
proposed amendment provides more details and says that incitement to violence
against a category of people or against a person based on race, nationality,
ethnicity, language, religion, gender, sexual orientation, opinion or political
affiliation, wealth, social origin, age, disability, chronic non-contagious
disease or HIV/AIDS infection is punishable by imprisonment from six months to
three years or a fine. The government also has an emergency ordinance on its
agenda that will offer the possibility to citizens who do not have their
domicile in Romania to temporarily register cars and trailers that they later
want to take out of the country in order to permanently register them in
another state and one that will improve the way in which projects financed from
non-reimbursable external funds are implemented.

Protest.
Civic associations in Romania are
organizing, this evening, near the government headquarters, a protest to demand
the urgent trial of the gendarmes guilty of violence against participants in the anti-government rally on August 10, 2018.
On Tuesday, the Prosecutor General’s Office announced that it had sent to trial
the chiefs of the Gendarmerie in office at the time of the rally, for abuse of
office, intellectual fraud and abusive behavior. According to the prosecutors,
the Gendarmerie leadership performed their duties improperly and ordered
subordinates, in violation of the legal provisions, to intervene by force in
order to disperse the entire mass of protesters attending. According to the
investigators, the actions of the defendants restricted the freedom of assembly
and the right to physical and mental integrity of the demonstrators, and caused
physical suffering or injuries, requiring medical care, to a number of more
than 400 people. The forceful intervention of the gendarmes was done in
violation of the principles of necessity, gradualness and proportionality,
principles enshrined in the legal regulations on the matter and reflected in
the ECHR jurisprudence, say the investigators. Thus, the gendarmes would have
acted not only against the people who demonstrated violently, but also against
the peaceful demonstrators, who constituted the vast majority of the
protesters.

Inflation.
The National Bank of Romania expects a slightly
higher inflation towards the end of this year than it anticipated a few months ago.
According to the new forcast presented, on Wednesday, by the governor of the
Central Bank, Mugur Isărescu, towards the end of the year, inflation could reach
7.5%, up from the initial forecast of 7.1%, to then drop to 4.4% at the end of
next year. According to Mugur Isărescu,
economic growth shows signs of slowing down, as does consumption.

Navy
Day. The Turkish corvette TCG
‘Kinaliada’ will make a stopover in the port of Constanţa, between August
12-16, to participate in the Romanian Navy Day, alongside Romanian military and
civilian ships, informed the General Staff of the Naval Forces. On Tuesday,
August 15, the Turkish corvette will join Romanian military ships at sea,
participating in demonstration exercise ‘Romanian Naval Forces 23’. It will
consist of elements of reconnaissance-diversion, repelling the attack of enemy
aviation, searching for and attacking an enemy submarine, repelling a maritime
landing, combating illegal migration at sea. The Guard of Honor, set up on the
seafront in front of the Fleet Command, will be made up of military platoons
from France, the USA, Turkey, the 30th Guards Brigade ‘Mihai Viteazul’ and the
Romanian Naval Forces. The evening of August 15 will end with the torchlight
retreat of the sailors and a fireworks and drone show, which will mark the end
of the 121st anniversary of the Romanian Navy.

Football.
Three Romanian football teams will play,
this evening, on home turf, the first leg of the third preliminary round of the
UEFA Conference League. The champion Farul Constanța (southeast) faces Flora
Tallinn from Estonia, the vice-champion FCSB (Bucharest) takes on the Danish
team FC Nordsjaelland, and the winner of the Romanian Cup, Sepsi OSK Sfântu
Gheorghe (center), will play against the FC Aktobe team from Kazakhstan. The
decisive games will take place a week from now. (MI)