CORRUPTION – The Romanian police have today confirmed
\nthat the former tourism minister Elena Udrea and the
\nformer head of the Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism
\n(DIICOT), Alina Bica, have been detained in Costa Rica, following intelligence
\nsent from Bucharest. According to judicial sources, the two are to be heard in
\ncourt. They have applied for asylum in Costa Rica, and that is why judges might
\npostpone a decision regarding their extradition. Udrea and Bica were under
\ninvestigation, surveillance and monitoring by the Costa Rican authorities, as
\nthey were wanted internationally by Interpol, following the sentences they had
\nreceived in Romania for corruption. For a long time seen as the most
\ninfluential character in the former president Traian Basescu’s entourage, Udrea
\nreceived from the High Court of Cassation and Justice a final 6-year prison sentence for bribe taking
\nand abuse of office. The same court sentenced Bica to 4 years in prison, in a
\ncase in which she was accused of aiding and abetting a criminal. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
REFERENDUM – The campaign for the
\nreferendum on redefining family in the Romanian constitution, due on October
\n6-7 ends on Friday, 7 a.m. local time. Romanian citizens are called to the
\npolls to say whether they agree to see the definition in the Constitution,
\nwhich currently reads ‘the consented marriage between spouses’, changed into
\n‘the consented marriage between a man and a woman’, the definition proposed by
\nParliament. The initiative to change the phrasing in the Constitution came from
\nthe Coalition for Family, which comprises
\nseveral Christian organizations. The coalition gathered 3 million signatures to
\nsupport their initiative. The referendum has been criticized by associations
\nthat protect the rights of sexual minorities. For the referendum to be valid,
\nat least 30% of the voters registered on electoral lists must take part, and
\n25% of the votes must be valid. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
MONETARY POLICY – The Romanian Central Bank has
\ndecided to maintain the monetary policy interest rate at 2.5% per year, and the
\none for bank deposits at 1.5%. The interest rate for loans will stand at 3.5%.
\nThese interest rates are used in the relations between commercial banks and the
\nCentral Bank. The values of the current rates for minimum reserve requirements
\napplicable to liabilities in RON and in hard currencies have also been
\nmaintained.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
EU BUDGET – The EU has inadequately spent
\nsome 3.3 billion Euros, which accounts for 2.4% of its 2017 budget, the
\nEuropean Court of Auditors has announced today, quoted by news agencies. The
\nmoney has not been spent in keeping with the EU regulations, either because of
\nimproper allocation or accounting errors. However, the ECA has stated that the
\nrate of improperly spent money follows a downward trend, after values such as
\n3.1% in 2016 and 3.8% in 2015. According to analysts, the report issued by the
\nCourt of Auditors comes at a critical time for the EU, against worries in
\nBrussels that growing Euroscepticism might strengthen populist parties in next
\nyear’s European elections. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
NATO – The NATO defense minister’s meeting
\ncontinues in Brussels. On Wednesday, the participants analyzed the stage of
\nimplementation of the decisions made by the allies at the July summit in Poland
\nand analyzed the progress made by Tbilisi in implementing the Substantial
\nNATO-Georgia Package. Also, the agenda includes talks with EU, Finish and
\nSwedish officials on issues of common
\ninterest, such as military mobility or fighting hybrid and cyber attacks.
\nRomania is represented at the meeting by the Defense Minister Mihai Fifor, who
\nwill also hold talks with his counterparts from Canada, Great Britain, Italy,
\nSpain and Turkey, as well as with the US General Curtis Scaparrotti, the
\nSupreme Allied Commander Europe of NATO Allied Command Operations. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
CYBERCRIME – The Romanian Foreign Ministry expresses
\nits solidarity with Great Britain, following London’s denouncement of hostile
\ncyber actions. ‘Romania, in its capacity as EU and NATO member state, situated
\nin the proximity of regions marked by instability, is facing such challenges
\ntoo’ reads a communiqu\u00e9 issued this morning by the ministry. Bucharest has
\nreconfirmed its commitment to supporting the fight against cyber attacks and
\nhas voiced interest in cooperating with Great Britain and the other allies in
\nimplementing firm and concrete measures aimed at preventing and curbing such
\nphenomena. Previously, the British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt had accused
\nthe Russian military intelligence services (GRU) of perpetrating cyber attacks
\nagainst companies and institutions across the world. Together with our allies,
\nwe will expose and respond to the GRU’s attempts to undermine international
\nstability, Hunt said. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
HANDBALL – Romania’s
\nmen’s handball champions Dinamo Bucharest have scored their first victory away
\nfrom home in the current season of Champions League, by defeating 32-31 the
\nFinish of Riihimaen Cocks, in Group D. Dinamo now ranks second in the group
\nwith 6 points, just like the Polish of Orlen Wisla Plock who rank first, with one
\ngame less on their record sheet. The two teams are to meet in Bucharest on
\nOctober 14th. In another development, in women’s handball, Romania’s
\nchampion CSM Bucharest plays on Friday against the Hungarians of FTC Rail Cargo
\nBudapest, in a match part of Group D of the Champions League, the first this
\nseason. <\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A roundup of domestic and international news<\/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":[34006,29234,29789,30742,28962,34050,28921,32145],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-103050","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsflash","tag-family-referendum","tag-alina-bica","tag-cyber-attacks","tag-diicot","tag-elena-udrea","tag-european-court-of-auditors","tag-nato-meeting","tag-romanian-central-bank"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n