The Week in Review (10-16 June)

A review of the main stories in Romania this week.

Leyla Cheamil, 16.06.2018, 14:18

Bad weather hits Romania again

In the
past days, a large part of Romania’s territory has been under code yellow
warning for unsettled weather. Many areas across the country have been affected
by strong gusts of wind and heavy rainfalls, which have created many problems,
flooding households and cutting electricity. In several cities, trees fell on
the roads and also on people’s vehicles. Given the high amount of
precipitations announced for the past and current period of time,
meteorologists have issued red, yellow and orange warnings for flooding,
especially for the rivers in the west, south and south-west of the country.
Some 3,300 firefighters have been mobilised to intervene if need be.

Venice
Commission delegation comes to Bucharest for talks on changes to justice laws

A
delegation of the Venice Commission, which is the Council of Europe’s
consultative body on constitutional matters, has this week come to Bucharest
for talks on the changes brought to the justice laws. The delegation has had
meetings with Romania’s President Klaus Iohannis and with representatives of
the most important state institutions: the Ministry of Justice, the High Court
of Cassation and Justice, the Constitutional Court, the Prosecutor General’s
Office, the National Anticorruption Directorate, the Higher Council of
Magistracy, Parliament, judges’ and prosecutors’ associations and civil society
organisations.

The head
of state and the Monitoring Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the
Council of Europe had called for the Commission’s opinion on the changes
brought to the three justice laws, concerning judicial organisation, the
functioning of the Higher Council of Magistracy and the status of judges and
prosecutors in Romania. The request was made against the background of
accusations launched by the right-wing opposition, part of the press and civil
society, who believe that by changing the laws, the ruling coalition made up of
the Social Democratic Party and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats are
actually trying to stop the fight against corruption and to get control over
the country’s magistrates. Venice Commission experts will draw up a preliminary
report in July, based on the information collected during their visit. The
final report is due in October.

Romanian Senate endorses changes to Criminal Procedure Code

On
Wednesday, the Romanian Senate endorsed the changes brought to the proposed amendments
to the Criminal Procedure Code. The bill, initiated by MPs representing the
ruling coalition made up of the Social Democratic Party and the Alliance of
Liberals and Democrats, was not voted by the representatives of the National
Liberal Party and of the Save Romania Union, in the opposition. The bill is
aimed at transposing the EU directive regarding the presumption of innocence,
and one of its amended provisions is the one saying that evidence obtained
illegally has to be destroyed. One of the most controversial amendments
stipulates that a retrial of the case can be requested if the judge did not
sign or edited the ruling. The bill is to be further debated by the Chamber of
Deputies, which is the decision-making forum on this matter.

Romanian
Central Bank presents new review of financial stability report

The risk
of non-reimbursement of loans taken out by the NGO sector is on the rise, reads
a report on financial stability presented by the National Bank of Romania on
Thursday. The risks highlighted in the document also include investors’
decreasing trust in the emerging economies, like Romania’s, macroeconomic
balance getting upset and real estate prices getting higher. The report reads
that, last year, the population’s overall debt and the consumption credits
granted by banks and non-banking financial institutions also went up. The board
of the Romanian Central Bank presented the document against the background of
an inflation rate reaching 5.4% in May – the highest level in the past five
years – growing deficits, a public debt on the rise and an exchange rate
fluctuating around the value of 4.66 RON for one Euro.

Romanian and world no. one
Simona Halep receives standing ovations in Bucharest

The Romanian tennis player
Simona Halep, number one in the WTA rankings, was celebrated at the National
Arena in Bucharest on Monday. She received standing ovations from more than
20,000 people, who wanted to congratulate her in particular for her outstanding
victory at the French Open, where she defeated in the final the American Sloane
Stephens 3-6, 6-4, 6-1. Here is what Simona Halep, now a citizen of honour of
the capital Bucharest, told her fans:

Thank
you all for coming here. I very much wanted to be here because I wanted all of
us to share this moment. The joy is even greater than on the tennis court in
Paris. Thank you so much. It is a very special moment. I am very proud to be
Romanian. These performances were built entirely in our country. I have always
trained here. I was brought up here and I have always believed that you can
achieve great things even if you come from a smaller country.

This is Simona Halep’s
first Grand Slam title, 45 years since Ilie Nastase won the French Open and 40
years since the win of another outstanding Romanian female player, Virginia
Ruzici.