February 23, 2017 UPDATE
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Newsroom, 23.02.2017, 19:49
RESHUFFLE The four new ministers, proposed by Prime Minister Sorin Grindeanu, were sworn in on Wednesday in the presence of Romania’s president Klaus Iohannis in the first government reshuffle after the coming to power of the country’s left-wing government in December last year. They are to take over seats at the Ministries of Justice, Economy, Business Environment, Trade and Entrepreneurship and European Funds. Two nominations were expected initially, for Justice and Business Environment, as the two offices had remained vacant against the background of the political crisis triggered by the Government’s attempt to amend the Penal Codes under an emergency decree and to operate a collective pardon. On Wednesday, the Social Democratic Party decided to operate four changes in the cabinet, all of them validated by the leadership of the party. Tudorel Toader, a former judge with the Constitutional Court, was nominated for the office of Minister of Justice. According to the Prime Minister, his main priorities are the elimination of the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism and transposing the Court’s decision into the penal codes. The proposal for the Ministry of Business Environment and SMEs is Alexandru Petrescu, who had to give up the Economy, where the next minister will be Mihai Tudose. Tudose used to hold the same office in the Ponta Cabinet. Rovana Plumb is the proposal for Minister Delegate for European Funds. Sorin Grindeanu has explained that this field needs a person that has both governmental and political experience, and Rovana Plumb has both.
ORDINANCE Romania’s president Klaus Iohannis announced he would promulgate on Friday the two laws through which early this week, the Chamber of Deputies repealed infamous emergency ordinance 13 aimed at amending the penal codes and endorsed the one that abrogates the former, ordinance 14. Hundreds of thousands took to the streets of Romania to protest the government’s intention to amend the penal legislation to include the partial decriminalization of the abuse of office. The anti-ordinance and anti-government rallies commenced on January 31st, when ordinance 13 was adopted and continued even after its abrogation. We recall the ordinance attracted a lot of heat from the president, opposition parties, the main legal institutions in Romania and from its foreign partners in the EU and NATO.
ANTI-CORRUPTION In Romania, the efforts made with regard to the justice system must be supported by a stable legislative and institutional background in order for the system to be effective in combating corruption, said in Bucharest the chief-prosecutor of the National Anticorruption Directorate Laura Codruta Kovesi upon presenting the 2016 activity report of the Directorate. The idea has also been stressed by the head of state Klaus Iohannis, who has said that there are some gaps in the Romanian legislation with regard to the judiciary and real consultations on this matter are a must. Iohannis has said that he will unconditionally support the strengthening of the rule of law, saying that the role of the National Anticorruption Directorate is essential in fighting corruption and observing the law. According to the report, in 2016 the directorate’s activity was more effective. Some 1300 people were indicted, of which 870 got final sentences. The latter include 3 ministers, 6 senators, 11 deputies, 16 magistrates and 20 directors of state-owned companies. More than one quarter of those sent to court in 2016 were found guilty of abuse of office, which caused the state losses of over 260 million Euros. Recovering the losses was an important component and precautionary measures were taken, worth 760 million Euros.
