January 30, 2017
Public debate on emergency ordinances on pardon and amending the criminal code/ Supreme Defense Council meeting on Tuesday/ Benoit Hamon designated candidate of the French Socialists
Newsroom, 30.01.2017, 13:52
PUBLIC DEBATE — The Romanian Justice Ministry is today hosting a public debate on the draft emergency ordinances aimed at granting collective pardon and amending the criminal code. Depending on the results of this consultation, the government will decide on the manner in which they will pass the draft laws – through emergency ordinance, by assuming responsibility or by forwarding a legislative package to Parliament. The debate is taking place in the context in which on Sunday evening massive street protests took place in Romania and abroad against these draft laws. As many as 100 thousand people participated in these protests. Similar protests also took place last Sunday. Opposition parties, civil society and organizations of magistrates believe that the aforementioned ordinances are meant to save from prison influential politicians or persons from the administration. The Justice Ministry believes that pardon and certain changes brought to the criminal law are required by the overcrowding of penitentiaries, an issue identified by the Court of European Human Rights, and by some decisions made by the Constitutional Court. We recall that Romania is among the first 3 countries in Europe with the greatest number of sentences issued by the European Court, most of them being related to the conditions in penitentiaries.
2017 DRAFT BUDGET — Romania’s Supreme Defense Council will convene in Bucharest on Tuesday. The meeting was called on Friday by President Klaus Iohannis in order to approve the 2017 draft budget for the institutions in the national security field. President Iohannis had warned that a drop in these institutions’ budgets would be tantamount to an attack on Romanians’ safety. The PM Sorin Grindeanu announced that, during the meeting, he would support his point of view regarding the 2017 draft budget. As compared to the budget bill presented last week, the document was slightly amended in the sense that the budget allocation for healthcare, education, transports, agriculture and SMEs was increased. The Defense Ministry will receive 2% of the GDP. Smaller budgets than last year will be allotted to the Labour Ministry, the Regional Development and Finance Ministries, the Presidential Administration and the Romanian Intelligence Service. After the 2017 draft budget is approved by Government it will be debated by Parliament. The opposition has already announced it is preparing several amendments.
PARIS — The French Socialists designated Benoit Hamon, aged 49, a former education minister, to run in this year’s presidential election. In the final tour, Hamon got almost 58% of the votes cast as compared to 42% obtained by the former PM Manuel Valls. According to Radio Romania’s correspondent to Paris, Benoit Hamon would like the Socialists to join forces with the other leftist parties and with the Ecologists, but this union is hard to achieve. Running as favorites in this spring’s election are Marine Le Pen, the leader of the National Front far-right party, François Fillon, the right wing’s candidate, and Emmanuel Macron, an economy minister from 2014 to 2016.
BERLIN — The German Social Democratic Party designated on Sunday, in Berlin the former President of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, 61, to run as their candidate for the position of German Chancellor in the general elections due on September 24. The Social Democrat leader, Sigmar Gabriel, who is currently Vice Chancellor, decided not to run in the election, thus clearing the path for Schulz, who does better in opinion surveys. Furthermore, Sigmar Gabriel will cede the party’s presidency to Schulz, who will nevertheless have to obtain the vote of the party at the congress scheduled for March.
QUEBEC ATTACK — The Canadian PM, Justin Trudeau, labeled as terrorist attack on Muslims the armed attack on a mosque in Quebec (in the southeast). According to the police, 6 people were killed and at least 8 wounded on Sunday by two masked people who entered the Islamic Cultural Center in Quebec and opened fire on the people who were praying. As many as 40 people were in the mosque at the moment of the attack. The police arrested two suspects but did not give further details. (translation by Lacramioara Simion)
