April 28, 2016
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Newsroom, 28.04.2016, 12:00
The Romanian President, Klaus Iohannis, has today signed the decree that appoints Augustin Lazăr as Romania’s prosecutor general. Previously approved by the Superior Council of Magistracy the proposal had been forwarded to the president by the justice minister, Raluca Prună. Some of the priorities mentioned by Augustin Lazăr are the fight against crimes in vulnerable domains, the fight against corruption in local administration, the continuation of investigations regarding money laundering and tax evasion and crimes against humanity as well as the case of the 1989 anti-Communist uprising.
The Romanian PM Dacian Cioloş will nominate another person at the helm of the Culture Ministry after Vlad Alexandrescu announced his resignation against the backdrop of the scandal at the National Opera House in Bucharest. In the past days, three shows have been cancelled against the background of discontent voiced by the Opera employees regarding the successive nominations for the position of general manager made lately as well as the gap between the salaries of Romanian and foreign ballet dancers. The deputy prime minister Vasile Dîncu has tried to mediate the conflict and the government’s control body will start investigations at the Opera House next week.
The National Integrity Agency in Romania has finalized more than 400 cases in the first 4 months of 2016 and has discovered 11 instances of assets worth almost 1 million euros that cannot be accounted for. According to a National Integrity Agency communiqué, in 195 files, inspectors have unveiled cases of incompatibility, of conflict of interests or unjustified differences between the acquired assets and the incomes obtained. Among the people evaluated are two deputies, one senator, a former first prosecutor, a county council president, mayors, deputy mayors, local councilors as well as civil servants.
Orthodox and Greek-Catholic Christians from all over the world, including Romania, are marking today Maundy Thursday of the Passion Week. On this day Christians recollect the Last Supper, the arrest of Jesus Christ following his betrayal by Judas and his trial by the Jewish religious authorities. Tonight Christians will go to church to attend a special mass when 12 fragments of the Gospel will be read, illustrating moments in the life of the Redeemer up until His crucifixion. On Saturday at midnight Orthodox and Greek Catholic believers will celebrate Easter or the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Titus Corlăţean, the president of the special committee for Romania’s Schengen accession and a member in the Romanian Senate’s foreign policy committee met, on the 2nd day of his visit to the USA, with members of the House of Representatives and of Romania’s Group of Friends in the US Congress. Corlăţean underlined the relevance of consolidating NATO’s eastern flank in the current geopolitical context, also by increasing the American presence in the region and recognizing the strategic role of the Black Sea. He also mentioned the presence on the Romanian territory, in Deveselu, in the south, of the American anti-missile defense shield. The location of the defense shield in the south of Romania has repeatedly triggered Russia’s discontent that considers the shield a threat. Both Bucharest and Washington have pointed out the purely defensive nature of the shield. (news translated by Lacramioara Simion)
