December 23, 2017 UPDATE

Over 40 civic organisations, which are among the initiators of the street protests in Romania against the amendments to the Justice laws and the Criminal Codes have sent an open letter to Prime Minister Mihai Tudose

Newsroom, 23.12.2017, 19:20

PROTESTS — Over 40 civic organisations, which are among the initiators of the street protests in Romania against the amendments to the Justice laws and the Criminal Codes have sent an open letter to Prime Minister Mihai Tudose, asking him to have together a meeting over December 27-30. The signatory organisations claim there have been major deficiencies in the dialogue and consultations between the law-maker and society, on the adoption of the Justice laws and during talks on the amendments to the Criminal Codes. On Friday, the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Thorbjorn Jagland, sent a letter to Romania’s President, Klaus Iohannis, urging him to call for an opinion from the Venice Commission on the legislative reforms already adopted by Parliament. Earlier, the Bucharest embassies of Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden had sent a joint letter, calling on all sides involved in the process to reform the judiciary to avoid any action which might lead to the weakening of the independence of the judiciary and of the fight against corruption. In response, the Romanian Foreign Ministry said that strengthening the rule of law and boosting the fight against corruption are among the priorities set by the Government. In their turn, the leaders of the parliamentary majority, Social-Democrat Liviu Dragnea and Liberal-Democrat Calin Popescu Tariceanu have promised that the Justice and Foreign ministers, Tudorel Toader, and Teodor Melescanu, respectively, will correctly inform the embassies on the changes brought to the legislation in the field.

COMMEMORATION — Military and religious ceremonies and floral tributes were paid on Saturday morning at the “Henri Coandă” Otopeni International Airport, near Bucharest, to commemorate the gendarmes who lost their lives during the Anti-communist Revolution 28 years ago. Doing their military service in Câmpina, southern Romania, the gendarmes were sent on December 23, 1989, to defend the airport, which was allegedly under ground and air attacks by the so-called terrorists loyal to former dictator Nicolae Ceausescu. In Otopeni, however, the army opened fire on them, killing 37 officers, non-commissioned officers, pupils and conscripts. Started on December 16, 1989 by the inhabitants of Timisoara, in the west, who opposed an abusive measure taken by the local authorities, the Revolution spread to the whole country and culminated on December 22, with the Ceausescu couple’s attempt to flee Bucharest. Captured by the army, he was executed on December 25, following a summary trial. Over 1,000 people died and some 3,400 got injured during the 1989 Revolution.

JUDICIAL OVERHAUL — 2018 will also be a year with a busy legislative agenda, says the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, Liviu Dragnea, who is also the leader of the main ruling party, PSD, the Social Democratic Party. Dragnea says the main legislative priorities next year are the project for the creation of the Sovereign Development and Investment Fund and the administrative Code. Another important law on the agenda of the ruling coalition is the public-private partnership, the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies has also added.

CENTRAL BANK – The National Bank of Romania has announced it will issue next year new banknotes and coins featuring the country’s new coat of arms. They will circulate concurrently with the existing ones. The new coat of arms features a crowned eagle. The new banknotes and coins will be gradually introduced on the market, depending on the real needs for currency. The new banknotes will also bear the date of “January 1, 2018″, on the obverse. According to a communiqué issued by the National Bank of Romania, all the other graphic and safety elements are identical with those on the banknotes and coins which are already in circulation.

MIGRANTS — A Syrian and a Sudanese citizen have been temporarily taken into custody for 30 days for migrant trafficking, after the Romanian border police spotted them while guiding six Iranian nationals, who illegally tried to cross the Serbian- Romanian border. According to a communiqué issued by the Border Police on Saturday, the migrants intended to reach a country in Western Europe.

TENNIS — The world number one woman tennis player, Romanian Simona Halep, on Sunday will face Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic, no.4 WTA, in the finals of the Intercontinental World Tennis Championship demonstrative tournament in Thailand. On Saturday, Halep defeated British Johanna Konta, 2-0, whereas Pliskova outperformed Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko, 2-0. On Sunday, Ostapenko and Konta will fight for the third place.