June 27, 2016 UPDATE

EU Council to convene over Brexit; Gov't challenges special pension law with Constitutional Court

Newsroom, 27.06.2016, 12:05

BREXIT – The President of Romania, Klaus Iohannis, is taking part on Tuesday and Wednesday in Brussels in a European Council meeting, where he will emphasise the need for EU solidarity and unity, following Great Britains EU referendum. According to the Presidential Administration, the head of state will underline that Romania remains loyal to the European project, but will stand for redefining it. President Iohannis will also reiterate that Romania firmly supports equal rights of all EU citizens, including the Romanians who live and work in the UK.

LAW – The Government of Romania once again notified the Constitutional Court regarding the law on special pensions for local elected officials, PM Dacian Ciolos announced on Monday. The law, he argued, will affect the State Budget, which fuels much of the local budgets. Ciolos explained that the budget impact would amount to some 90 million euro per year. The Government also challenged the fact that the law is to apply retroactively. Last week the Senate endorsed a bill giving special pensions to mayors, deputy mayors, presidents and vice-presidents of county councils. Under the law, which is set to take effect in January 2017, the money will be taken from local budgets and officials sentenced for corruption-related offences will not receive such pensions.

JUDICIAL – The Romanian Justice Minister, Raluca Prună, and her Georgian counterpart, Thea Tsulukiani, Monday signed in Tbilisi, a new agreement in the judicial field. The Romanian Justice Ministry said the parties would promote, among others, judicial cooperation in European affairs and the exchange of information. The open-ended agreement will replace the one signed in 2004. Signing the deal was the main goal of Minister Prunas visit to Georgia until Tuesday.

EU FUNDS – The Committee on European Affairs in the Romanian Chamber of Deputies Monday heard the Minister for European Funds, Cristian Ghinea, to clarify why Romanias EU fund absorption rate in 2016 is zero. Aspects related to the current stage in spending European funds and the ministry reorganisation strategy have also been discussed, as well as the measures designed to improve the performance of relevant institutions and to speed up the absorption of European money. Participants also discussed the measures Minister Ghinea has in mind with respect to the so-called Juncker Plan for investments.

SPAIN ELECTIONS – The interim PM of Spain, the Conservative Mariano Rajoy, said on Monday that he would try to form a coalition government within a month. Rajoys Popular Party came first in the election with 33% of the votes, followed by the Socialists with 22.6% and by the left-of-centre anti-system Podemos party, with 21.1%. The new Parliament will also include the Ciudadanos Liberal party. The elections were held only six months after the latest ballot, which produced a fragmented legislative body, with the four political forces unable to make up a governmental majority.

MOLDOVA – A former PM of the Republic of Moldova, Vlad Filat, was sentenced on Monday to nine years in prison, in a ruling that can still be appealed. He was charged with passive corruption and influence peddling, after a businessman said he had given Filat 250 million USD in money and goods. Vlad Filat denies the accusations and claims to be the victim of political revenge. He was the PM of Moldova between September 2009 and March 2013.

RUSSIA-TURKEY – The President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, sent a letter to his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, expressing regret for downing the Russian military aircraft in November 2015, near the Turkish-Syrian border. According to a spokesman for Kremlin, quoted by Reuters, the Turkish President says that he will do his best to restore bilateral relations and that Ankara is ready to work with Moscow to fight terrorism. After the aircraft was shot down, Russia imposed tough trade restrictions on Turkey, and Putin said at the time that those measures would not be lifted until Erdogan apologised for the incident, Reuters mentions.