April 2, 2025 UPDATE
A roundup of domestic and international news
Newsroom, 02.04.2025, 20:00
OECD. Romania is on the point of completing all the technical analyses required to join the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development in the next 12 months or so, the OECD Secretary-General Mathias Cormann said on Wednesday. In a video message to the conference “Romania and the OECD – The main country project after NATO, the EU and Schengen”, held in Bucharest, Mathias Cormann said that excellent progress had been made since Romania became a candidate for accession in January 2022 and encouraged the continued involvement of the business community, trade unions and civil society in shaping the OECD accession process. Romania’s unique perspective and policy experience will contribute to the OECD’s work of building bridges between advanced, emerging and developing economies, Mathias Cormann said. Membership of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development will be an anchor for Romania’s further development, said the country’s interim president, Ilie Bolojan. Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu said in turn that OECD membership, coupled with accession to Schengen and the completion of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, would represent a peak moment in the development of modern Romania.
Trial. Former left-wing President of Romania Ion Iliescu and former Prime Minister Petre Roman have been sent to court in the June 1990 Miners’ Riot case, for crimes against humanity. In the same case, former Deputy Prime Minister Gelu-Voican Voiculescu, former Intelligence Service chief Virgil Măgureanu, as well as Miron Cozma, former leader of the miners in the Jiu Valley, alongside former officers with the Ministry of Interior have been referred to justice. Aged 95, Ion Iliescu was previously sent to trial in this case alongside the other defendants in 2017, but the courts ordered the case to be returned to the Military Prosecutor’s Office, for a fresh start of the investigation. In June 1990, demonstrations against the leftist government settled in Romania after the collapse of communism were violently repressed by the police, with the help of miners called in from the Jiu Valley. The violence of June 13-15, 1990 resulted in deaths, injuries and extensive material damage.
Motion. The simple motion filed by the parliamentary group of the Alliance for the Unity of Romanians (AUR) (ultranationalist, populist, in opposition) against the liberal Minister of the Interior, Cătălin Predoiu, was rejected on Wednesday by the Romanian deputies. 138 votes “for” and 161 “against” were recorded. AUR requested the dismissal of Predoiu from office and the analysis with a view to initiating criminal prosecution for the acts committed in the exercise of his office. According to the AUR deputies, the suspension of Romania’s entry into the Visa Waiver program and the downgrading of the country to “hybrid regime” in the Democracy Index 2024 would also be the direct result of the policies promoted by the Ministry of the Interior under the leadership of Cătălin Predoiu. At the end of the debate and vote in the Chamber of Deputies, the Minister of the Interior stated that the motion had no merit, but was a useful parliamentary exercise.
UK Travel. As of April 2nd, Romanians, like other Europeans, need a mandatory travel authorization (ETA) if they want to travel to the United Kingdom. All travellers, including children, will need this electronic travel authorization for both short-term stays and transit through the United Kingdom. To obtain the document, Europeans must have no criminal record or any record of past immigration violations in the United Kingdom or elsewhere. The British government imposed this measure to reduce illegal immigration and strengthen border security.
Defence. The Romanian Minister of National Defence, Angel Tîlvăr, is participating, on April 2 and 3, in the Informal Meeting of Defence Ministers of the EU Member States, held in Warsaw. The meeting’s agenda includes talks on the implementation of the directions of action highlighted in the programmatic document on the White Paper on European Defence Preparation. The defence ministers will also discuss the security situation on the continent and solutions to strengthen the support offered to Ukraine by the European Union.
EU Parliament. The MEPs have approved, by a large majority, the guidelines for the European Union’s 2026 budget. They call for improving the EU’s security and defence capabilities, as well as financing dual-use transport infrastructure. They also call for adequate support for farmers and underline the importance of implementing the asylum and migration pact. They also aim to boost industrial production in Europe, continue support for health and crisis preparedness programmes, education and culture, youth empowerment and the proper use of EU funds. The MEPs also stress the need for sufficient resources and pledge to support Ukraine unconditionally. The European Commission is expected to present its proposal for next year’s budget in June, with the Council and Parliament to agree on it by the end of the year.
Indonesia. Romanian producers will soon benefit from a new market in Indonesia, after an authority in this country recognized the Bucharest food safety testing laboratory. Indonesia, a country with almost 300 million inhabitants, is one of the largest markets in Asia. The National Sanitary Veterinary Authority reaffirmed the commitment of the Romanian authorities to ensure high food safety standards and to open new opportunities for Romanian products on international markets. Through this recognition, the Bucharest food safety testing laboratory is also authorized to carry out official analyses to determine pesticide residues and other contaminants in fresh plant products intended for export to Indonesia. (MI)
