October 18, 2016

Poverty is the result of corruption, Romanian PM Dacian Ciolos told a debate on a program drafted by his cabinet in an effort to curb poverty/MPs adopted the simple motion “Lies can kill, too filed by the Social Democrats against the justice minister

Newsroom, 18.10.2016, 12:00

POVERTY — Romanian PM Dacian Ciolos has today said in Bucharest that poverty is the result of corruption and of the way in which public resources are allocated. In another move, Ciolos says that a change in the citizens’ behavioural attitudes is also necessary in order to eradicate poverty. The head of government attended debates on the program drafted by the government in an effort to curb poverty. It includes 47 measures destined for all age brackets, from preschoolers to elderly people. Over 37% of the Romanians are exposed to a risk of poverty and social exclusion, Romania ranking second in the EU from this point of view, data released by Eurostat show. One in three children in Romania is facing poverty.

CORRUPTION — One of the shareholders in the wine making company Murfatlar (in south-eastern Romania) and nine other persons have been taken into custody by the anti-corruption prosecutors, in a tax evasion file. The estimated value of the prejudice stands at some 600 million lei (135 million Euro). The anti-corruption prosecutors on Monday searched the headquarters of several firms in the wine-growing industry and the houses of several people, in several counties in the south and south-east, in a file in which investigations are carried out for crimes assimilated to corruption and tax evasion. The acts were reportedly carried out in the 2010-2014 period. In 2015, the wine company Murfatlar, one of the first ten players on the Romanian wine industry reported a turnover of 124.4 million lei (27 million Euro) and a net profit of 3.5 million lei (some 800 thousand Euro), according to the balance sheet submitted to the Finance Ministry.

GENERAL AFFAIRS COUNCIL — State secretary for European affairs, Cristian Badescu, is today attending in Luxembourg the General Affairs Council, a communiqué issued by the Romanian Foreign Ministry shows. The agenda of the meeting also includes talks on the stage revision of the Multiannual Financial Framework. The ministers will also be briefed on the stage of implementing the provisions of the Inter-institutional Agreement, referring to annual scheduling and inter-institutional cooperation, the Romanian Foreign Ministry also writes. The debates of the EU ministers for European affairs are held ahead of the European Council meeting due on Thursday and Friday. The agenda of the Council covers such issues as migration, the trade policy pursued by the EU, global and economic issues as well as foreign relations.

SIMPLE MOTION — Romanian MPs have today adopted the simple motion “Lies can kill, too”, tabled by the Social Democratic Party against the justice minister in the current technocratic cabinet, Raluca Pruna. The MPs of the National Liberal Party and of the national minorities haven’t cast their votes. In the document, the Social Democrats were demanding the resignation of justice minister Raluca Pruna for a series of statements she made in a plenary session of the Higher Council of the Magistracy, on October 6, when she claimed “she had lied to the European Court of Human Rights” about the situation of funds allotted to penitentiaries. Ahead of the vote in parliament, Raluca Pruna defended herself, saying her mandate does not have a biased political stake. She assumed responsibility for the statements she made, saying that no one can take away her right to signal problems in the justice system, among which a severe one, such as under-financing. Today’s vote does not lead to the sacking of the minister.

MIGRATION — Eight Pakistani nationals were stopped at the Romanian-Serbian border, in the southwest, on Tuesday morning, while trying to illegally cross into Serbia, from Romania. Following checkouts, the police officers established that the respective persons were Pakistani citizens, who said they had crossed the border on foot, with the declared intention to head for a West European state. Many such attempts by migrants trying to illegally cross the border have been foiled in the past two months. (Translated by D. Vijeu)