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ANTI-GOVERNMENT PROTEST<\/strong> Protests continue in Bucharest against the
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2017 DRAFT BUDGET <\/strong> The joint budget-finances committees of the
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COMMEMORATION<\/strong> Commemorative events were held on Saturday at
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AWARD<\/strong> Romania’s President Klaus Iohannis has been
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TENNIS<\/strong> Romanian
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Protests continue in Bucharest against the Government’s decree amending the criminal codes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":113,"featured_media":75903,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[31545,30018,31531,31546,31548,31547,31549],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-101663","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsflash","tag-anti-government-protest","tag-davis-cup","tag-emergency-ordinance","tag-iuliu-maniu","tag-semper-opera-house","tag-sighet","tag-st-george-medal"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
\ndecree issued by the Romanian Government to amend the criminal codes. Last
\nnight, hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets again, in Bucharest
\nas well as in many other towns and cities across the country and abroad, to
\ndemonstrate against the provisions of the emergency ordinance which, they say,
\nhelps high-ranking politicians and local and central government officials to no
\nlonger be held accountable for corruption. The Social Democratic Party has
\nannounced its intention to hold next week a meeting of support for the
\nGrindeanu Government. Party speakers say it is not going to be a counter-rally,
\nbut their supporters are entitled to be heard too. The Labour Minister Lia
\nOlguta Vasilescu has stated that branches of the National Liberal Party and of
\nthe Save Romania Union, in the opposition, intend to bring party members from
\nall over the country to take part in the anti-government demonstrations. The
\nformer Minister for Business Environment Florin Jianu, who resigned on
\nThursday, told the CNN that the bills amending the criminal codes were passed
\nwithout informing the cabinet members. Such a decision, made late, on Tuesday
\nnight, was not right, Jianu said. President Klaus Iohannis has notified the
\nConstitutional Court, signalling the conflict between the Government on the one
\nhand, and the Judiciary and Parliament on the other. The Supreme Council of
\nMagistracy, the Ombudsman and the General Prosecutor are too against the
\nprovisions of the ordinance. The embassies in Bucharest of the US, Belgium, Canada, France,
\nGermany, the Netherlands, Great Britain and Sweden have voiced their concern
\nover the situation in Romania. They have warned that Government’s actions might
\naffect these countries’ partnerships with Romania, which are based on common
\nvalues, shared by the EU and NATO. In a statement on Radio Romania, the
\nspokesman for the US Department of State Mark Toner has said that by abrogating
\nthe ordinance, the Executive would uphold the country’s credibility in the eyes
\nof the international community and its attractiveness to investors.<\/p>\n
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\nRomanian Parliament are discussing the 2017 draft state budget. A report must
\nbe concluded by Sunday evening, for the document to be debated in plenary
\nparliament session on Monday. Speaking on behalf of the Government made up of
\nrepresentatives of the Social Democratic Party and the Alliance of Liberals and
\nDemocrats in Romania, the Finance Minister Viorel Stefan gave assurances that
\nthe draft observes the main directions established under the governing program,
\namong which slashing the VAT from 20 to 19% and eliminating the income tax on
\npensions of up to 2000 lei, which is the equivalent of some 400 Euros. The budget was
\nbuilt taking into account a growth rate of 5.2% and a deficit of maximum 3%.
\nAlso, Romania will stay committed to allocating 2% of the GDP to defense. The
\nright wing opposition, however, believes that the revenues on the basis of
\nwhich the budget was built are overestimated.<\/p>\n
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\nthe Memorial of the Victims of Communism and of the Resistance in Sighet, north-western
\nRomania, to mark 64 years since the death of the great politician Iuliu Maniu.
\nThe political personality of the leader of the National Peasant Party, who was
\na Prime Minister between the wars and a member of the Romanian Academy, was
\nevoked through various presentations and speeches. A militant for national
\nunion, a promoter of the democratic values, an opponent of Nazism and
\nCommunism, Maniu was arrested in 1947 by the dummy Government imposed by the
\nSoviets and died in 1953 at the age of 80 in the Sighet prison, where most of
\nthe former Democratic dignitaries had been imprisoned. <\/p>\n
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\nawarded the Saint George Medal at an event organized by the Semper Opera House
\nin Dresden, eastern Germany, for his political commitment to promoting the
\nEuropean project and its values. According to a communiqu\u00e9 issued on Saturday
\nby the Presidential Administration in Bucharest, the president has stated he
\nreceived the medal in the name of all Romanians and devoted it to the Romanian -
\nGerman friendship. Iohannis, who is a member of the German community in Romania
\nhimself, has also said that Europe must show more determination and more
\ncommitment to settling the issues it faces, to defend the European project and
\ndemocracy. Other personalities who have received the medal are the former
\nGerman President Christian Wulff, the former European Commissioner Gunther
\nOettinger, the former president of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso
\nand the current European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker. <\/p>\n
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\ntennis players Horia Tecau and Nicolae Frunza are today playing against the
\npair Max Mirnyi – Egor Gherasimov of Belarus, in the doubles of the first round
\nof Davis Cup’s Europe\/Africa Zone Group I. The two teams now stand on equal
\npositions, after on Friday the Romanian Adrian Ungur defeated Ilya Ivashka, and
\nMarius Copil lost to Gherasimov. The last two singles are scheduled for Sunday:
\nCopil – Ivashka and Ungur -Gherasimov.<\/p>\n