February 27, 2014 UPDATE
A roundup of domestic and international news
România Internațional, 27.02.2014, 20:03
The Romanian Social — Democrat Prime Minister Victor Ponta is negotiating with the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians the formation of a new majority, alongside the Social Democratic Party, the Conservative Party and the National Union for the Progress of Romania. Negotiations started following the National Liberal Party’s decision to step down and the subsequent dismantling of the Social Liberal Union, the alliance that won the 2012 elections. Victor Ponta has announced that he will present the new government in Parliament on March 4th. On Thursday, former liberal Pm Calin Popescu Tariceanu, who resigned from the National Liberal Party, announced the official establishment of a new party, the Liberal Reforming Party, and said he was interested in running for President. More on this after the news.
The Romanian Foreign Ministry has hailed the decision made by the European Parliament on Thursday to eliminate compulsory visas for the citizens of the Republic of Moldova, the former Soviet republic with a predominantly Romanian speaking population. Thus Moldova becomes the first country member of the Eastern Partnership to benefit from the liberalization of the visa regime. This will allow the Moldovan citizens who have biometric passports to circulate freely within the Schengen area for 90 days within 3 months. This was one of the priorities of the pro-European coalitions that have come to power after the so-called Twitter Revolution in 2009 and the defeat of the communists in the elections. Last year, the Republic of Moldova initialed the association agreement with the EU, which it hopes to sign this year.
Romanian prosecutors worked on over 7,900 cases and indicted 1,000 people in 2013, one third more than in 2012, said the head of the National Anticorruption Directorate, Laura Kovesi who made public the directorate’s activity report for 2013. She said 6 cabinet ministers, 5 county council presidents and vice-presidents, tens of mayors and deputy mayors, magistrates, lawyers and directors of state companies and other public institutions were indicted last year. Laura Kovesi emphasised the National Anticorruption Directorate is a success story for the judiciary reform in Romania and a good example for similar European institutions.
NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen has voiced concern for the events in Crimea, the pro-Russian peninsula in southern Ukraine, and has called on Russia to take no action that would lead to an escalation of tension. Other western leaders have taken similar stands, saying a segregation of Ukraine must be avoided. Reactions have come as on Thursday armed people besieged the Parliament and Government buildings in Sevastopol, hosting Russian flags. Shortly after, the Parliament of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea announced it would hold a referendum to decide the future of the region. The Ukrainian interim president, Olexandr Turcinov, has warned that taking over the official buildings in Crimea is a crime against the Ukrainian state. Kiev has called on Russia to observe Ukraine’s territorial integrity and has sent warnings to the Russian fleet in the Black Sea. Russia has stated it will observe the agreements signed with Ukraine regarding the fleet. In another move, the Russian Ministry has stated that Russian will defend the rights of its fellow citizens strongly and uncompromisingly, if they are broken. The Russian Defense Ministry has announced that fighter planes are in a state of alert, along the western border. The US Secretary of State John Kerry has warned that a Russian military intervention in Ukraine would be a grave mistake. In another development , the Ukrainian Parliament unanimously appointed pro-European Arseni Iateniuk Prime Minister of the transition government.
The Romanian government has approved a letter of intent agreed upon with the International Monetary Fund to accompany a stand-by agreement signed last autumn. The document was submitted to president Traian Basescu who said he would signed it. Earlier, the president made the signing of the letter conditional on the elimination of a rise in the excise duty on fuel. The letter contains no reference to this rise or any facilities regarding the repayment of bank loans for individual persons.
Prime minister Victor Ponta has travelled to Rome today talks with the Italian prime minister Matteo Renzi and Pope Francis at the Vatican. Ponta will also attend a meeting of the Party of European Socialists to discuss the nomination of the European Parliament president Martin Schulz as the head of the European Commission to replace Jose Manuel Durao Barroso, whose term ends in late October.
On Thursday, the Romanian Cinematheque Hall in Bucharest screened the Japanese production ‘Sky Tear’, by Atsunori Kawamura. The event was organized by the Japanese Embassy in Bucharest and Japan Foundation, part of the Japanese Film Days.
