Newsflash, July 4
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Ştefan Stoica, 04.07.2013, 00:00
The Venice Commission Secretary, Thomas Markert, has hailed a potential postponement of the referendum on the revision of Romania’s constitution, saying that thus there will be enough time for deeper talks on several important issues. On Thursday and Friday, a Venice Commission delegation held talks in Bucharest with representatives of the parliamentary parties, of the Higher Council of Magistracy and of the Commission for the Revision of Romania’s Constitution on the revision of this country’s fundamental law. The revision draft was endorsed with several observations of the Legislative Council and was submitted to the Constitutional Court. The main amendments to the constitution focus on the relations between the main institutions of the country, Parliament, Presidency, Government.
The Romanian Foreign Minister Titus Corlatean will pay a visit to Moscow, starting Friday, the first by a Romanian Foreign Minister since February 2009. According to the Radio Romania correspondent to the Russian capital, the Romanian official will discuss with his counterpart Serghel Lavrov the stage and prospects of bilateral relations in various fields, economy in particular. The foreign Ministry in Moscow has announced that inter-government agreements will be signed regarding the setting up and functioning of the Romanian cultural institute in Moscow and Russia’s science centre in Bucharest. A cooperation agreement in the field of culture, education, media, sport, youth and tourism will also be signed, as well as a collaboration protocol between the two foreign ministries.
Another Romanian special detachment is heading for Afghanistan for specific missions, which will be carried out in cooperation with the US commando troops. The announcement was made in Buzau on Friday by the Romanian Defense Minister Mircea Dusa, who participated in the departure ceremony. The Romanian soldiers will carry out military assistance and counter-terrorism missions, with US air support, and will get involved in the training of the Afghan special forces. The detachment will also collaborate with the Romanian military intelligence subunits, which have been recently equipped with 10 unmanned search aircraft from the US.
In Romania, high-school graduates took the last test of their baccalaureate, the optional one, on Friday. 21 candidates were eliminated in Constanta, for fraud and attempted fraud. During the previous tests, in Bucharest and Sibiu prosecutors started investigations on suspicion of fraud. Several candidates were eliminated, and one high-school principal was taken in preventive custody by the police, for 29 days. 187,000 students registered for this year’s baccalaureate, and the results are scheduled to be published on Monday.
The number of actions started by the European Commission against Romania has dropped, and now Romania is situated below the EU average which stands at 30 infringement procedures in the run, announced the Romanian Foreign Ministry on Friday, quoting data made public by the European Commission. Also, Romania is one of the fastest EU states with regard to the solving of these procedures, with an average of 19.1 months per case, 8 months less than the EU average.
On Friday in Stockholm, Sweden, the Chairman of the Romanian Olympic and Sports Committee, Octavian Morariu, aged 52, was elected president of the European Rugby Federation. Morariu, a former international player and head of the Romanian Rugby Federation, has thus replaced the French Jean Claude Baque, who resigned. Octavian had been the vice-chair of the Federation since 2004 and also its representative in the International Rugby Board. His term in office is three and a half years.
