January 28, 2015
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Florentin Căpitănescu, 28.01.2015, 12:00
The European Commission today will make public the traditional reports on the justice system, as part of the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism, by means of which the European executive has been monitoring the developments in the justice system in Romania and Bulgaria. According to Mediafax agency, quoting excerpts from the report on Romania, the Commission has heaped praise on the country’s National Anti-Corruption Directorate, for its key role in providing a growing number of investigations and rulings, especially in high-profile corruption cases. The document has also stated, however, that the country’s judicial, educational and healthcare systems are still riddled with corruption. Among the institutions the report singled out in a positive way, there were also the Constitutional Court, the National Integrity Agency, the High Court of Cassation and Justice and the Higher Council of Magistracy. Threats to the independence of the justice system, however, as well as attacks targeting judges and prosecutors, also initiated by politicians, still remain a problem, yet their number has been decreasing. By the same token, the report also mentions the Parliament’s refusal to lift immunity in the case of MPs facing charges. The previous report issued on January 2014 hailed the progress that had been made, while the activity of the judicial institutions prompted the population to develop a stronger confidence in the country’s justice system, the European Commission concluded in its Report.
Romania’s President Klaus Johannis is today holding talks with parliamentary parties, targeting the priorities of the next legislative session. Talks will mainly be focusing on finding better ways for the process of voting abroad, the financing of election campaigns and the political parties, as well as on stepping up the legal procedure, with a view to lifting parliamentary immunity. The main ruling political entity, the Social Democratic Party, among other things, has suggested that the Permanent Electoral Authority should be in charge of organizing all voting process categories, the ballot abroad included. The centre-right opposition party, the National Liberal Party has suggested that the correspondence voting be implemented for the Diaspora. The National Liberals have also advocated the idea of returning to the two-round ballot procedure in the case of mayors and county council presidents. This is the Romanian president’s second round of talks with parliamentary parties since Klaus Johannis has officially began his term in office. The initial round of talks had been held on December 12 and translated into an agreement on increasing the Defence budget.
Members of a joint IMF, World Bank and European Commission delegation are in Bucharest as of yesterday, for the third assessment of the existing precautionary loan agreement. The joint mission will continue consultations with the authorities in Bucharest. For two weeks running, talks will be focusing of the most recent developments in economic data, the stage of the privatisation process and the fiscal code. High on the talks’ agenda is the draft law on personal insolvency, against the backdrop of the Swiss Franc’s appreciation against the Leu, which caused panic among the Romanians who had contracted loans in the Swiss currency. The topic is also high on the agenda of the Chamber of Deputies. Yesterday, the international lenders’ delegation and the Central Bank Governor Mugur Isarescu held talks on the personal insolvency law and the conversion of loans.
US President Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel have voiced their concern over the significant increase in violence in eastern Ukraine, according to a White House press release. The two leaders had a phone conversation Wednesday, ahead of tomorrow’s meeting of the European Union’s Foreign Affairs Council, where imposing a new round of sanctions on Russia will be debated upon. Romania’s Foreign Affairs Minister Bogdan Aurescu stated Romania was set to back a tougher sanctions package against Russia, given that the situation in eastern Ukraine has become increasingly worse. The Ukrainian Parliament yesterday adopted a resolution labeling Russia “the aggressor state” and the self-styled pro-Russian breakaway republics of Donetsk and Lugansk in eastern Ukraine, “terrorist organizations”. Kiev and the West have been accusing Moscow of giving military support to the pro-Russian rebels’ offensive. Russia has denied any direct involvement in the conflict, which in nine months has claimed the lives of more than 5,000 people.
The pair made of the Romanian Horia Tecau and Jean Julien Rojer of the Netherlands today has got through to the Australian Open’s semi-finals, in the wake of yesterday’s 6-4, 7-6 win against the Romanian — British pair made of Florin Mergea and Dominic Inglot. In the semi-finals, Tecau and Rojer will be taking on the all-Italian pair made of Simone Bolelli and Fabio Fognini. In the singles’ version of the competition, WTA 3rd seed Simona Halep has had the most satisfactory run so far. Halep, however, failed to make headway into the semi-finals as she conceded victory to Ekaterina Makarova of Russia, 4-6, nil-6.
