Two Romanians are among the victims of Wednesday’s terror attack in
Two Romanians are among the victims of the terror attack in London on
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Romania’s
Romania needs to revise legislation on granting immunity and raise
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The governments of Bucharest and Chisinau meet for joint session<\/strong><\/p>\n
The governments of Romania and the Republic of
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Romania’s Higher Defence Council approves army equipping programme<\/strong> <\/p>\n
Romania’s Higher Defence Council has approved the mandate under which
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Railway and police employees stage protests<\/strong><\/p>\n
Railroad traffic returned to normal in Romania after
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A look at the main stories in Romania this week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":106,"featured_media":124454,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[40944],"tags":[28950,42385,31773,28990,29007],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-124474","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-week-in-review","tag-corruption","tag-defence-spending","tag-london-attack","tag-protests","tag-republic-of-moldova"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
\nLondon<\/strong> <\/p>\n
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\nWednesday. The attack has been firmly condemned by political leaders all over
\nthe world, from the US President Donald Trump and German Chancellor Angela
\nMerkel to French President Francois Hollande and the European Council President
\nDonald Tusk. Romanian President Klaus Iohannis has also condemned the attack
\nand voiced solidarity with Britain in a telephone conversation with the British
\nPrime Minister, Theresa May. The British police, that have arrested several
\nsuspects, said the attacker, Khalid Masood, aged 52, was born in Britain and
\nbecame a supporter of radical Islam. Before being shot dead by the police,
\nMasood had driven his car into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge and stabbed to
\ndeath a police officer guarding the House of Parliament. The Islamic State has
\nclaimed the attack. Prime Minister Theresa May has said that Britain’s
\nterrorist threat level has been set at severe.<\/p>\n
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\nlegal system under the spotlight in Strasbourg and Brussels<\/strong><\/p>\n
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\ntransparency in terms of public procurement for a better fight against
\ngovernment corruption, the chief of the country’s anti-corruption directorate
\n(the DNA) Laura Codruta Kovesi said during a European Commission’s anti-graft
\nconference in Strasbourg. The Romanian official went on to explain that the
\nministers’ immunity must be limited to the time of their term in office, so
\nthat investigations on corruption allegations should continue. Kovesi gave the
\nexample of a minister suspected of having received almost 45 thousand euros to
\nfavour the granting of contracts to certain companies, but prosecutors had to
\ndrop the investigation after Parliament in Bucharest had turned down a request
\nfor lifting the respective minister’s immunity. In another development, also
\nthis week the European Parliament held debates on democracy and justice in
\nRomania. The conference was also attended by Justice Minister Tudorel Toader on
\nbehalf of the government in Bucharest, and by members of the civil society. The
\ntalks in Brussels came after the leftist government in Bucharest had tried to
\namend criminal legislation, partially decriminalising some offences that might
\nbenefit corrupt politicians. The move triggered the biggest protests Romania
\nhas seen since the fall of the communist regime in December 1989. <\/p>\n
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\nMoldova convened on Thursday in Piatra Neamt, northeastern Romania, for their
\nthird joint session. Prime Minister Grindeanu said that Bucharest would
\ncontinue to support Chisinau’s bid for the EU and that Romania wanted to get
\ninvolved in the privatisation of state-owned companies in the Republic of
\nMoldova. His counterpart from Chisinau, the pro-Western Pavel Filip gave
\nassurances the Republic of Moldova is looking towards the West and that the
\ncountry would continue to apply the Association Agreement with the EU and the
\nreforms started. The talks between the two officials came after last week in
\nMoscow the pro-Russian socialist Igor Dodon had reiterated his intention to
\ndenounce the association and free-trade agreements with the EU and deepen the
\nrelations with the Eurasian Economic Union. Dodon also mentioned the
\nfederalisation of the Republic of Moldova as a possible solution to the
\nconflict in the pro-Russia breakaway region of Transdniester. <\/p>\n
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\nthe Romanian delegation will participate in the NATO summit in Brussels in late
\nMay. An updated form of the programme of equipping and streamlining the
\nRomanian army has also been approved. The programme is focusing on the
\nstreamlining, developing and properly equipping the armed forces by 2026. The
\ndecision came after 2% of the GDP had been earmarked for the armed forces this
\nyear. In another development, the US ambassador in Bucharest Hans Klemm has
\nannounced that Romania will be hosting a large-scale military drill in July
\nthis year. The event is expected to bring together roughly 30 thousand troops
\nfrom NATO countries. Klemm went on to say that on the bilateral level as well
\nas inside the alliance, the relations between the Romanian military and their
\ncounterparts are very good. <\/p>\n
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\nthe unofficial strike on Wednesday when railway workers had brought over 150
\ntrains to a halt. Following talks with the employer, trade unions got the
\npromise of higher pays for the employees after the signing of a new collective
\nlabour agreement in April. The company’s salary funds are likely to increase by
\nmore than 17% whereas the company’s infrastructure section is to see a raise of
\n22%. Police employees also went on a strike and picketed the Labour Ministry.
\nFollowing talks with the authorities they obtained pay rises, so police
\nemployees with the lowest salary of 320 euros will get more money once the new
\nlaw on unitary payment comes into effect on July 1st. Trade unions
\nsay that field agents and officers are to get pay raises of more than 100% in
\nthe next 4 years. <\/p>\n