September 22, 2014
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România Internațional, 22.09.2014, 12:00
The Parliament of Romania is to vote today on a motion of censure tabled by the right-of-centre Christian Liberal Alliance, in Opposition, against the cabinet of the Social Democrat Victor Ponta. The signatories claim the decisions passed by the government over the past few months pave the way for an election fraud in November. Such measures include the government ordinance that allows local elected officials to switch parties without losing their seats. The motion is unlikely to pass, because the Social Democrats and their ruling partners have a comfortable majority in Parliament.
EC experts are assessing, starting today, the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism for Romania, and will have talks with Romanian officials ahead of drawing up this year’s report on the judiciary. In the latest such document, issued in January, the Commission criticised the Parliament and praised the National Anti-Corruption Directorate, the National Integrity Agency and the High Court of Cassation and Justice. At that point, the European experts recommended that Romania should pass legislation to suspend the pensions of magistrates suspected of corruption, to finance the institutions tackling corruption and to apply harsher punishments for corruption.
The European affairs committees in the Chamber of Deputies and Senate of Romania are today hearing the Socialist MEP Corina Creţu, nominated for European Commissioner for Regional Policy in the new Commission headed by Jean-Claude Juncker, which will take office on November the 1st. With a budget of 350 billion euro for 2014-2020, Regional Policy is a portfolio focused on investments, new jobs, competitiveness, economic growth, improvement of life standards and sustainable development. Also, according to Brussels, regional policies are designed to express EU solidarity with the less developed countries and regions.
As part of the RadiRo International Festival of Radio Orchestras, the Prague Radio Symphonic Orchestra is performing in Bucharest tonight. Conducting will be Tiberiu Soare, a prominent young Romanian conductor highly appreciated by critics and the public alike.
Turkey once again closed down several checkpoints on its Syrian border, after around one hundred thousand Syrian Kurds crossed into this country, seeking refuge from the Islamic State militants. Clashes were reported on Sunday between Turkish security forces and the Kurds, who gathered in border areas to find their relatives among the refugees.
The citizens of the Republic of Moldova may travel to Israel without a visa, as of today. The decision was made by the authorities in Tel Aviv and communicated by the Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman to Moldova’s pro-Western prime minister Iurie Leancă. The two countries have so far signed 24 bilateral agreements.
