April 25, 2019 UPDATE

A roundup of domestic and international news

Newsroom, 25.04.2019, 19:46

REFERENDUM – President Klaus Iohannis on Thursday signed the decree
on the organization of a referendum concurrently with the European Parliament
election on May 26. The two questions will be: Do you agree with forbidding
amnesty and pardons for corruption-related offences? Do you agree with
forbidding the Government to pass emergency decrees in the field of corruption
crimes, correlated with extending the right to challenge emergency decrees at
the Constitutional Court? In a press conference the president urged Romanians
to vote in the referendum, saying its result will count. Klaus Iohannis also
said the referendum is of major importance and could change Romania. The
President’s undertaking comes amidst numerous legislative changes in the
judiciary promoted by the ruling coalition, which have sparked controversy and
attracted criticism from Romania’s European partners.

CAMPAIGN – The campaign for the European
Parliament election is to kick off on Saturday and end on May 25. Bucharest
will send to Brussels 33 MEPs, one more than before if Britain is going to
leave the bloc. Former prime ministers, a president, several ministers, MEPs
and mayors are among the candidates. Romania’s number one ruling party the
Social-Democratic Party is favorite in the election race together with the main
opposition party the National Liberal Party. They are followed by the
opposition Save Romania-Plus alliance and ProRomania party as well as by the
Alliance of Liberals and Democrats, also part of the country’s ruling
coalition. The Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians and the People’s Movement
Party also stand chances to win seats in the European Parliament.

JUDICIARY – A delegation of the Venice
Commission on Thursday met in Bucharest with representatives of Parliament’s
special committee on the justice laws to discuss the emergency decrees in the
field. The president of the committee, Social-Democrat Robert Cazanciuc, said
at the end of the meeting that he explained to the commission the decrees were
passed to solve certain deadlocks. In turn, the Save Romania Union in
opposition said Commission representatives warned that passing emergency
decrees could bring new emergencies and the fact that the government is
circumventing Parliament debate is a very serious matter that should not be
tolerated. During his meeting with the Venice Commission on Wednesday,
President Iohannis said the law modifying the criminal codes passed by
Parliament is a detrimental way of passing legislation that creates instability
in the system. The European Commission has announced it would closely analyze
the modifications, insisting Romania must immediately resume its efforts to
reform the judiciary.

POPE FRANCIS -The Holy See has published a detailed schedule of Pope Francis’
visit to Romania. The Pontiff is due to arrive in Romania on May 31st
and to be meeting president Klaus Iohannis, Prime Minister Viorica Dancila,
representatives of civil society and the diplomatic corps. The Pope is expected
to meet Romanian patriarch Daniel and deliver a speech in front of the
Permanent Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church. Pope Francis and Patriarch
Daniel will be praying together in the People’s Salvation Cathedral. The Pope’s
first day in Romania will end with a mass at St. Joseph’s Cathedral in
Bucharest. On June 1st the Pope will celebrate a mass at Sumuleu
Ciuc, central Romania, and will next go to Iasi, in northern Romania for a
visit to the local cathedral and a speech at the Palace of Culture Family and
Youth. On June 2nd in Blaj, Pope Francis will deliver a mass and
beatify seven martyr bishops and meet the local Roma community. The Pontiff
will next go to Sibiu in central Romania and board a plane to Rome. Over 110
thousand people have enlisted to participate in the mass at Sumuleu Ciuc. The
list includes Roman-Catholic believers from all over the world.

EUROBAROMETER – Less than 35% of Europeans
were aware in February that the European Parliament election would be held in
May, the Spring Eurobarometer shows. According to the study, most EU citizens
support their countries’ EU membership. 68% of respondents said they benefited
from EU membership overall, tantamount to the highest response rate in 1983.
61% of respondents said EU membership is a good thing. The survey reveals
citizens’ uncertainty is on the wane, also due to the amount of challenges the
EU has faced in recent years. On the other hand, half of EU citizens believe
things are headed in the wrong direction, either in the EU or in their home
country. Half of citizens also believe their voice doesn’t matter at EU level,
the study also shows.

(Translated by V. Palcu)