April 22, 2015 UPDATE

For a roundup of domestic and international events, click here.

Roxana Vasile, 22.04.2015, 12:15

EU SUMMIT — Romania’s president Klaus Iohannis is on Thursday attending the EU summit convened to address the growing number of immigrants from Northern Africa coming to Europe. EU leaders will also look at ways of supporting EU states worst affected by the immigration phenomenon and of boosting cooperation with the immigrants’ countries of origin. A catastrophic shipwreck last week killed some 800 people in the Mediterranean Sea. Since the start of 2015, some 1,750 immigrants drowned trying to cross into Europe, 30 times more than the same period of last year. Some 20,000 immigrants have already arrived in Italy, the country reporting the largest number of immigrants from Northern Africa.

INVESTMENT — Romanian Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu wants to attract more investors from Luxembourg, arguing that this country currently ranks 9th in a ranking of foreign investors in Romania, with over 2 billion euros invested. Minister Aurescu claims there is already an excellent cooperation potential, and that the visit of his counterpart Jean Asselborn on Wednesday signals the quality of bilateral relations. In turn, Minister Asselborn said that all countries that have met 100% of Schengen accession technical requirements and display political will should be granted the possibility of joining Schengen. Regarding Romania and Bulgaria’s accession to Schengen, Minister Asselborn said a solution must be found to solving this deadlock. Luxembourg will take over the six-month rotating presidency of the EU Council on July 1.

CORRUPTION — Anti-corruption prosecutors on Wednesday called on the Supreme Court to give a final sentence to Deputy Prime Minister Liviu Dragnea in the referendum case, where he is being investigated alongside another 74 people. Prosecutors say the witnesses called to testify to Dragnea’s defence contacted him in advance in order to square their statements. Liviu Dragnea was indicted on October 7, 2013 for having used his influenced illegally to tip the balance of the referendum vote of July 29, 2012, held to suspend president Traian Basescu. Another current and former members of the Social-Democratic Party, which took charge of organizing the vote, are also being investigated. Although 87% of Romanians voted in favour of suspending president Basescu, the referendum was invalidated for lack of quorum. Liviu Dragnea has repeatedly dismissed all accusations.

LEGISLATION — The law on funding political parties and election campaigns, which the Romanian president Klaus Iohannis had sent back to Parliament for re-examination was passed on Wednesday by the Senate and will go next to the Chamber of Deputies. On Tuesday the Electoral Code Committee had approved the largest part of the requests made by the Romanian president, including those related to the way in which political parties can obtain loans from natural persons and legal entities. According to the law the documents and information which the Permanent Electoral Authority may ask during election campaigns can be exclusively related to the activity of the parties that involves revenues and expenses.

DRILL — The multinational military exercise “Wind Spring” under way in the south east of Romania gives a message to all countries outside NATO, namely that the NATO states are working and will always act together, said general Adrian Bradshaw, the Deputy Supreme Allied Commander in Europe. He insisted on the defensive nature of the operation and thanked Romania for its intention to increase the budget of national defence by 2% of the GDP. General Bradshaw visited together with the Romanian defence minister, Mircea Dusa, one of the military bases in the south east of Romania, where the Wind Spring drill is taking place until April 30th. Participating in the military exercise are more than 2,200 soldiers from the UK, the Republic of Moldova, Romania and the US. The exercise is part of the joint training activities taking place both in Romania and abroad as part of the “Atlantic Resolve” operation through which NATO and the US show their support for ensuring stability and regional security, given the current security situation in the area.

TRIAL –Trial of the former Romanian minister of development, Elena Udrea started on Wednesday at the High Court of Cassation and Justice. On Tuesday she was called by prosecutors before the court being charged with bribe taking, abuse of office and the use of documents for unlawfully obtaining European funds. In the case, which is linked to the organization of a sports gala in Bucharest, another 7 people are involved, among whom the former economy minister, Ion Ariton, and the former president of the Romanian Boxing Federation, Rudel Obreja. A close friend of the former president Traian Basescu and considered the most influential politician in his entourage, Elena Udrea is also being investigated in other corruption cases.

PIPELINE — Romania, Bulgaria and Greece have signed an agreement to interconnect their natural gas networks. The so-called “Vertical pipeline” will be constructed starting March 2016 and will be finalized by the end of 2018. The first step in the project was made in December 2014, after the Russian energy giant Gazprom announced they would give up the South Stream project. The new “Vertical pipeline” will be financed with 220 million euros from European funds.