March 17, 2015 UPDATE
A roundup of domestic and international news.
România Internațional, 17.03.2015, 12:15
Romania wants to strengthen its military capabilities to counter the ‘threat’ posed by Russias actions in Ukraine, Prime Minister Victor Ponta told foreign journalists in Bucharest. “Romania has the legitimate right and the responsibility to decide on its military capabilities, which are in line with those of the US and of other NATO countries. We will further ask the European Commission to agree to an additional 0.3% of the GDP to be earmarked for the field of defence,” PM Ponta has said. Bucharest has committed itself to cutting the country’s budget deficit to 1.8% of the GDP in 2015 and to 1% in 2017 but it hopes the Commission will allow it to increase the funds allotted to defence. Bucharest has purchased 12 F-16 fighter jets from Portugal and it considers buying another 12 in order to be able to observe its commitments to its NATIO partners.
Romania supports Ukraine’s bid for the EU, the country’s President Klaus Iohannis has said after a meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart, Petro Poroshenko. According to Iohannis, further efforts to strengthen democracy and the state of law are the best way of keeping Ukraine on its path towards the EU. Iohannis reiterated the fact that Romania supports Ukraine’s sovereignity, integrity and territorial integrity. As for the congflict in eastern Ukrain, the Romanian president has emphasised the importance of a quick and unconditional implementtaion of the accords between Kiev and the pro-Russian separatists and has pointed out tht Romania supports the EU sanctions on Russia. Iohannis also said he agreed with his counterpart on ensuring a better visibility of the Romanian community in Ukraine and of the Ukrainian community in Romania. In his turn, President Poroshenko has thanked Romania for supporting his country’s efforts to join the EU.
Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta has said he will ask the Senate to discuss and approve the new Fiscal Code and the Fiscal Procedure Code under an emergency procedure. According to Ponta, the bills will be submitted to Parliament by March 25th at the latest, and, if needed, the government might take responsibility for them in June. The Codes’ adoption is, in the PM’s opinion, vital for the country’s economic development and for a sustainable economic growth rate.
Anti-corruption prosecutors opened a case, on Monday, against the president of the National Integrity Agency, Horia Georgescu, suspected of abuse of office. In 2008 and 2009, when working for the National Agency for the Restitution of Property, Georgescu allegedly endorsed reports that over-evaluated several buildings. The damage to the state amounts to 75 million Euro. Georgescu has resigned. Judges will decide whether or not he will be placed under a 30-day pre-emptive arrest pending trial. Also on Monday, the ACD opened several cases against Radu Mazare, mayor of Constanta, Romania’s Black Sea port. He is rather influential in the Social Democratic Party, and stands accused of several counts of bribery, abuse of office and conflict of interest, even though he has been holding on tightly to his mayoral seat for 15 years, and in spite of the fact that he has a lot of media notoriety. In his case the damage to the state amounts to 26 million Euro.
