May 17, 2015
For a roundup of domestic and international events, click here.
Newsroom, 17.05.2015, 12:00
ILLEGAL LOGGING — The Government has put up for debate two emergency ordinances suspending exports of logs and firewood until August 31, after which date any wood sales will be strictly monitored. According to the Government, the two ordinances re aimed at regulating the wood market until the Forestry Code comes into effect. The document is again on the table of the Chamber of Deputies, after president Klaus Iohannis called for a re-analysis of the law. The president and the Liberal opposition claim some of the Code’s provisions are allegedly in breach of European standards. In response, the Social-Democratic Party accused the Liberals of advocating the interests of foreign businesses in the wood industry. For the second consecutive weekend, protests were staged in Bucharest and other cities against illegal and abusive logging in the past 25 years.
IMF — A technical mission of the IMF and the European Commission will visit Bucharest in May 19-26. Talks with Romanian authorities will focus on the new Fiscal Code and the status of implementation of the provisions in the programme signed with the IMF and the EC. The current agreement, the third since the economic crisis of 2009, will come to an end this autumn. The agreement was signed in September 2013 over a period of two years and is worth 2 billion euros. The European Commission has called on Romania to take all the necessary measures to finalize the term of the precautionary stand-by financial assistance programme.
EU DEFENCE — Romanian Defence Minister Mircea Dusa on Monday is attending the EU Foreign Affairs Council meeting and the discussion panel of the Executive Board of the European Defence Agency. The main topic on the agenda of the panel is the forthcoming European Council meeting on security and defence, to be held in late June. The Foreign Affairs Council meeting will review the status of military operations and missions carried out under the EU Common Security and Defence Policy. Other topics are linked with the need to revise the EU Security Strategy from the perspective of changes in the global security context, and with the implementation of measures aimed at ensuring the access of SMEs to the military equipment market.
ANTI-CORRUPTION — Anti-Corruption Chief Prosecutor Laura Codruta Kovesi on Sunday told a private television station that the latest investigations have caused panic to spread among the political class, which might explain its attempts to limit the remit of prosecutors. Kovesi referred to Parliament’s recent attempts to restrict procedures linked to the detention of MPs. It’s difficult to say whether the current political class supports anti-corruption efforts, given that every two weeks new bills are tabled to modify the Criminal and Criminal Procedure Codes, and thus limit the attributions of prosecutors or prosecution proceedings, Kovesi went on to say.
NATO — Europe’s security has deteriorated significantly in recent years, Hungarian Defence Minister Csaba Hende said on the sideline of NATO’s Parliamentary Assembly meeting held on Sunday in Budapest. Minister Hende said that Eastern and Southern Europe is confronted with mounting pressure exerted by the waves of immigrants from Northern Africa and the Middle East. The Hungarian official said instability in the Middle East was caused by the events of the Arab Spring, but also by the crises in Yemen and Syria, which contributed to the rise of extremism and the consolidation of the Islamic State.
MOLDOVA — A large-scale rally was held on Saturday in Moldova in favour of the union of Romania with the Republic of Moldova. Participants celebrated the 1812 annexation of the historical province Bessarabia by the Russian Empire. Unionists have launched a petition-signing campaign, calling the Grand National Assembly for the Union with Romania on July 5. In another development, the Romanian leader of a unionist online platform was declared persona non-grata in the Republic of Moldova and was extradited for allegedly endangering national security. According to the Moldovan Interior Ministry, the suspect said the decision was linked with the rally he was planning to organize on Saturday in Chisinau. The Romanian Foreign Ministry has demanded clarifications, while Romanian MPs have signed a joint declaration expressing their disapproval towards the Moldovan authorities’ actions.
BOMB ATTACK — A foreign national, member of the European Union Police Mission to Afghanistan, was killed on Sunday in a suicide car-bomb attack close to Kabul airport. Another two Afghan civilians were killed in the attack, which was claimed by Taliban terrorists.
