Brussels – political talks on Romania
The Romanian PM Viorica Dancila presented in Brussels the reforms initiated by the Romanian government in priority domains for Romania.
Corina Cristea, 27.09.2018, 12:35
Romania’s political situation was presented in Brussels by PM Viorica Dancila before the leaders of the main groups in the European Parliament. The meetings took place in the context of the future debates in the European Parliament, to be held next week, regarding the anti-government protest of August 10 in Bucharest, when the gendarmes used violence against the protesters. The PM Dancila was invited to participate in the debates.
The PM talked about the measures taken at economic and social level related to social justice, defending the rights and freedoms of citizens and re-balancing the powers of the state, shows a government press release. As to the reforms of the judiciary, the PM showed that they were meant to better gauge the Romanian judicial system to be in line with the European practices and the recommendations of the Venice Commission.
MEP Gabriela Zoana said after the debates in the European Parliament that the presence of the Romanian PM in the European Parliament and the way in which she presented the concrete stand of the Romanian government, with facts and arguments, actually clarified for the European partners that the Social Democratic government was making justified decisions, in compliance with the domestic legislation and the European values. Euractiv recalls, however, that the European Social Democrats reproached the PM Dancila that the ruling Social Democratic Party – PSD is swerving from the European ‘progressist‘ line.
According to the same source, the Socialist MEPs asked for clarifications over a series of issues, from major cases of corruption to the referendum to be held on October 6 and 7. In this referendum Romanians are called to vote if they agree with redefining the concept of family in the Constitution as being based on the marriage between a man and a woman. Euractiv quotes a Socialist MEP as saying that, in the EU Charter of fundamental rights, it is clearly stipulated that people have the right to get married without discrimination from a sexual point of view.
The Romanian PM said in Brussels that the Social Democratic Party would not be making a campaign for the referendum to influence its results and that it is everybody’s obligation to act in order to show what this referendum means. A former Social Democratic MEP, Catalin Ivan, accused the PM’s ‘double language’ and claimed that things in Bucharest are different. In a Twitter post, the leader of the European People’s Party, Mafred Weber, wrote, after the talks with the Romanian PM, that he was concerned with the situation in Romania, considering that the independence of the judiciary was under pressure.
