February 19, 2015 UPDATE
A roundup of domestic and international news.
Bogdan Matei, 19.02.2015, 12:15
Romanian President Klaus Iohannis on Thursday evening nominated the Liberal MEP Eduard Hellvig for the position of Romanian Intelligence Service chief. Eduard Hellvig now needs to be endorsed by the Romanian Parliament. A member of the National Liberal Party since 2008, Eduard Hellvig, aged 40, was a regional development and tourism minister in 2012, in the government headed by Victor Ponta. Hellvig was a member of Klaus Iohannis’s team during the presidential campaign last year. President Iohannis said his nomination is aimed at calming things down within the Romanian Intelligence Service, against the background of accusations of corruption and political involvement levelled at one of the service’s chiefs. The position has been vacant since January 27th, when George Cristian Maior resigned after 8 years at the helm. Previously, Maior had criticised the Constitutional Court’s decision to declare the cyber security law unconstitutional.
Romania attaches great importance to Francophone values and initiatives, both at domestic and international level, State Secretary for Global Affairs with the Romanian Foreign Ministry, Carmen Burlacu has said. Attending the opening, in Bucharest, of the Francophone Regional Seminar for Central and Eastern Europe, Carmen Burlacu has emphasised the contribution that countries in the region can bring to the joint cultural heritage and to the peace and stability in the French-speaking areas, due to their expertise in the field of democratic transition, in promoting solidarity, diversity and good governance. The seminar brings together representatives of the International Organisation of La Francophonie in Central and Eastern Europe, such as Albania, Armenia, Bulgaria, Macedonia, the Republic of Moldova and Romania. A French-speaking country by tradition, Romania has privileged ties with France and played host, in 2006, to a Francophonie Summit.
The Romanian Government has announced a relaxation in fiscal targets, starting next year. The relaxation measures will translate into a decrease in the value added tax, the flat income tax, contributions to the social security fund and in other taxes and excises. The Romanian Finance Ministry has also proposed lower excises on fuel and alcohol. In order to boost investment, the Government proposes the elimination of taxes on constructions and dividends. These are only some of the over 600 amendments to the new Tax and Tax Procedure Codes. The opposition however, believes that this relaxation is not credible and proposes a rethinking of the tax system.
A joint meeting of the Romanian and Bulgarian governments will be held this spring in the southern Romanian city of Craiova. The announcement was made on Thursday by the Romanian Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu after a meeting he had in Bucharest with his Bulgarian counterpart, Daniel Mitov. Minister Aurescu deemed the meeting as very important for the consolidation of bilateral ties. The Romanian-Bulgarian cooperation within NATO, the crisis in Ukraine, Moldova’s path towards the EU, energy security and the EU enlargement were tackled by the two officials.
Head of the Constanta County Council, the Social Democrat Nicusor Constantinescu, was detained on Thursday evening by anti-corruption prosecutors on charges of abuse of office and conflict of interests. Also on Thursday, Prime Minister Victor Ponta’s brother in law, Iulian Hertanu, was placed under a 30-day pre-emptive arrest pending trial following accusations of fraud involving European money. For their involvement in the same case, deputies Sebastian Ghita and Vlad Cosma, both representing Prahova county, are now subject to legal restrictions pending trial. The same decision was made for Vlad Cosma’s father, the president of the Prahova County Council, Mircea Cosma. Prime Minister Ponta has admitted that the scandal involving his brother-in-law is affecting his image.
The Romanian Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu had a telephone conversation with his Moldovan counterpart, Natalia Gherman, whom he congratulated for being part of the new government as well. Aurescu voiced hope that Ghermans keeping her position would ensure the continuity of Moldova’s efforts to get closer to the EU. Ministers Aurescu and Gherman also discussed about the most important issues on Chisinau’s European agenda. On Wednesday, the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova gave its vote of confidence to the government headed by businessman Chiril Gaburici, supported by a minority alliance made up of two pro-European parties, the Liberal Democratic Party and the Democratic Party, but also by the communists. The new Moldovan government took office against a rather complicated economic background, with both imports and exports dropping, and with a financial and banking market getting more unstable by the day.
The EU Defence Ministers agreed at an informal meeting held on Thursday in Riga, Latvia, to review the EU security strategy adopted in 2003. Latvian Minister Raimonds Vejonis said a strategy able to answer current and future challenges needs to be drawn up. Among the participants in the meeting were the High EU Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission, Federica Mogherini and the NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.
Romanian tennis player Simona Halep, ranking 4th in the world, qualified to the semifinals of the WTA tournament in Dubai. Halep defeated on Thursday Russian Ekaterina Makarova 6-3, 1-6, 7-5.
