October 3, 2018
The offshore law, sent back to the expert committees
Newsroom, 03.10.2018, 13:01
NATO — Brussels is hosting, as of today, a two-day meeting of the NATO Defense Ministers, the first such meeting after the Alliance’s summit in July, which marks the beginning of the implementation stage of the Declaration adopted in summer. Defense Minister Mihai Fifor represents Romania at the meeting. Developments on NATO’s eastern flank and the reform of the Alliance’s command structure are high on the meeting’s agenda, which also includes talks about setting up support teams trained to counteract hybride and cyber attacks.
EC – European Commission First Vice-President Frans Timmermans has warned Romania’s government that it might end up in court if it continues its policies to relax the fight against corruption. Timmermans made the comments on Monday, October 1st, at the civil liberties committee in the European Parliament ahead of a plenary debate on Romanias rule of law on Wednesday, with Romanian prime minister Viorica Dancila. Romania has made progress in the past, sometimes even spectacular progress, but it’s moving back in a way that would be damaging not only for Romanian democracy but for the place Romania has built as an EU member state,” Timmermans said. Attending the debates on Wedensady, PM Viorica Dancila asked for Romania to be treated as an equal partner within the EU and said that nobody could prevent the country from continuing its European path.
RULING — Romania’s Constitutional Court rejected on Wednesday the notification submitted by the country’sKlaus Iohannis, regarding modifications to the Law on the Romanian territory’s administrative organisation, Agerpres news agency reports. Iohannis had signalled the presence of some major dirfferences in terms of legal content, between the versions passed by the two Parliament chambers.
AGRICULTURE – Romanian Agriculture Minister, Petre Daea is today travelling to Brussels to discuss with European Commission represenatives about additional funds to be paid to farmers who were affected by the African swine fever. Around 11.5 million euro worth of damages have so far been paid to 5,000 Romanian farmers. Over 960 sine fever hotbetds have been confirmed in Romania, and hundreads of thousands of pigs have been culled.
LAWS – The offshore law, regulating gas exploitation in the Black Sea, was debated on Wednesday in the Chamber of Deputies’ plenary sitting, that decided to send it back to the expert committees. The Social Democratic Party’s deputies made some important changes to the law adopted by the Senate last week. PSD’s amendments were criticized by the opposition MPs as well as by deputies of their coalition partner. Oil companies have expressed concern about the new offshore law, saying that it may discourage new investment in the Black Sea. This is the second time this law is being voted. The Parliament initially adopted the offshore law in early July, but president Klaus Iohannis sent it back for review.
PENITENTIARIES – Hundreds of trade unionists with the Romanian penitentiaries have decided to protest today, in front of the Justice Ministry’s headquarters, against the poor working conditions and the unpaid overtime. They say their protest is also against the “indolence and incompetence” of the Justice Minister Tudorel Toader, and ask for the resignation of the general director appointed unlawfully. If their demans are left unanswered, protests will be taken to the next stage, by blocking the penitentiaries’ activity, trade unionists have warned.
