December 21, 2014
A roundup of domestic and international news
România Internațional, 21.12.2014, 13:58
Romania’s President Elect Klaus Iohannis was sworn in on Sunday, in solemn Parliament session. In his first speech as head of state, Iohannis said he was grateful and honoured by the trust that Romanians placed in him by electing him president. A country of things well done is the motto with which Iohannis convinced the voters, and, according to him, the first step towards achieving that goal is the reconstruction of political institutions. As regards the rule of law, the fight against corruption and the reform of the judiciary, the steps that have been taken so far must be defended and taken further. Also extremely important are the major public sectors such as education, health and the pensions system. As for the foreign policy, Iohannis mentioned the three main pillars: NATO membership, EU membership and strengthening the strategic partnership with the US, not only in the military field, but also in trade and culture. Klaus Iohannis took over the office from Traian Basescu, who led the country in the past 10 years. He is the fourth anti-Communist president of Romania.
The Romanian Parliament on Sunday approved the 2015 state and social security budget. The opposition National Liberal and Liberal Democratic parties voted against. The liberals have announced they will contest the budget law at the Constitutional Court. Prime Minister Victor Ponta has made an appeal to responsibility, saying that if the budget law is contested in court, pension rises will be delayed, jus like the allocation of subsidies and the reduction of the VAT in the tourism sector.
Thirteen NGOs in Romania urge that the cyber security law be analysed by the Constitutional Court before promulgation. These organisations say that, as it is now, the law violates constitutional rights regarding private life. On Saturday, the Defence Committee of the Senate stated, however, that the draft law addresses only public or private legal entities that are owners, administrators, operators or user of cyber infrastructures, not users that are natural persons.
Events commemorating 25 years since the anti-Communist Revolution of December 1989 continue in Romania. On December 21st, 1989, Bucharest joined Timisoara – the first communism-free city in the country, in the fight against dictator Nicolae Ceausescu’s regime. The revolt that broke out in Timisoara on the 16th of December spread quite rapidly across the country, and it gained momentum on the 22nd, when in Bucharest thousands of protesters besieged the headquarters of the communist party, forcing the dictator and his wife to flee. The two were caught and executed on December 25th, after a brief trial. Romania was the only country in south-eastern Europe where the fall of the regime took the lives of over one thousand people.
President Vladimir Putin has recently stated that nobody will get to intimidate or isolate Russia, and has given assurances that he is ready to face difficulties in order to guarantee the country’s sovereignty, affected by sanctions because of the Ukrainian crisis. He has also recalled that similar actions against Russia have been attempted several times in history. On Friday, the west imposed fresh sanctions on Moscow. The US banned all trade exchanges with Crimea, which Russia annexed in spring, and Canada forbade the entrance into the country of 20 Russian officials and Ukrainian separatists.
