A roundup of the week's main stories
President Klaus Iohannis at the UN
President Klaus Iohannis said on Wednesday during the general debate at the UN General Assembly that Romania is ready to strengthen the EU-UN partnership during its presidency of the EU Council, in the first half of 2019. "When I speak about engagement I don't just mean politicians and diplomats. We have to reach out to our younger people, representatives of civil society, journalists, business people. We need them all for the cause of multilateralism and global leadership", the Romanian President has said. Klaus Iohannis has also militated for Romania's getting elected as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council for the 2020-2021 period. In the speech delivered during the UN General Assembly, the president has said peace, development and justice are the basis of the country's multilateral strategy. President Klaus Iohannis has given assurances that Romania will be a responsible partner in promoting the common agenda of the UN. He has also said that the UN member states have the duty to better explain to their citizens what the current challenges to peace, social equitability and sustainability are and to talk about the role played by the UN in tackling them.
The Romanian Prime Minister's visit to Brussels
Romanian Prime Minister Viorica Dăncilă has paid a visit to Brussels this week, where she presented the political situation in Romania to the leaders of the main political groups in the European Parliament. The talks were held ahead of a debate in the European Parliament, scheduled for next week, on the August 10 anti-governmental protest in Bucharest, marked by the gendarmes' violent intervention. The Prime Minister has mentioned the economic and social measures that have been taken, that were meant to do social justice, defend the citizens' rights and liberties and balance the state powers, reads a communiqué issued by the Government. Referring to the reforms in the field of justice, the Prime Minister showed they were aimed at harmonising the Romanian legal system with European practices and recommendations made by the Venice Commission. The Prime Minister has presented the government's stand in order to make our European partners clearly understand that the Social-Democratic government takes justified decisions, in agreement with the domestic legislation and the European values, MEP Gabriela Zoană said fresh from the debates in the European Parliament. Euractiv recalls however that the European Social-Democrats have reproached Prime Minister Dăncilă that the ruling Social Democratic Party is distancing itself from the European "progressive" line. According to the same source, Socialist MEPs have asked for more clarity on a series of issues, from major corruption cases to the referendum of the 6th and 7th of October, when Romanian voters are expected to say if they agree to revise the country's Constitution to redefine the concept of family as being based on the marriage between a man and a woman. Euroactiv cites a Socialist MEP who recalls that the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union states explicitly that people have the right to get married without being discriminated against based on their sexual orientation. In a Twitter post following talks with the Romanian Prime Minister, the leader of the European People's Party Manfred Weber said he was worried about the situation in Romania, saying the independence of the judicial system is under pressure.
Government decisions
The government has adopted this week an emergency decree to amend the legislation regulating the insolvency procedure. The new provisions are aimed at halting certain abusive practices, such as repeated insolvency, and to ensure equal chances for the development of businesses. More than 6,000 companies employing over 64,000 people are in insolvency at the moment in Romania, which called for urgent measures, says the Finance Minister Eugen Teodorovici. The latter also said that the changes were the result of a series of dysfunctions that have appeared during the application of the previous versions of the insolvency law. The new emergency order provides for the conversion of the debts owed by companies into shares that will be taken over by the state. The tax authority will come up with a clear procedure in this regard, the finance minister has said. The business community has criticized the changes, speaking about masked nationalization. In another development, the government has established that the Romanian language subject in primary schools with tuition in the language of ethnic minorities will be taught by the form teacher. Education Minister Valentin Popa, who was opposed to this decision, resigned on Thursday. The change to the emergency decree was made at the request of the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania, which has a collaboration agreement with the ruling coalition formed by the Social Democratic Party and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats. The outgoing education minister said in his resignation letter that the Romanian language and Romania are "non-negotiable" and that all of the country's children must speak the Romanian language in order to have a chance to live and work in Romania.
(Translated by D. Vijeu & C. Mateescu)
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