<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
President Klaus Iohannis at the UN <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
President Klaus Iohannis said on Wednesday during the general debate
\nat the UN General Assembly that Romania is ready to strengthen the EU-UN partnership
\nduring its presidency of the EU Council, in the first half of 2019. When I speak about engagement
\nI don’t just mean politicians and diplomats. We have to reach out to our younger
\npeople, representatives of civil society, journalists, business people. We need
\nthem all for the cause of multilateralism and global leadership, the Romanian President has said. Klaus
\nIohannis has also militated for Romania’s getting elected as a non-permanent
\nmember of the UN Security Council for the 2020-2021 period. In the speech delivered
\nduring the UN General Assembly, the president has said peace, development and
\njustice are the basis of the country’s multilateral strategy. President Klaus
\nIohannis has given assurances that Romania will be a responsible partner in promoting
\nthe common agenda of the UN. He has also said that the UN member states have
\nthe duty to better explain to their citizens what the current challenges to
\npeace, social equitability and sustainability are and to talk about the role
\nplayed by the UN in tackling them. <\/p>\n
\n
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\n
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The Romanian Prime Minister’s visit to Brussels <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Romanian
\nPrime Minister Viorica D\u0103ncil\u0103 has paid a visit to Brussels this week, where
\nshe presented the political situation in Romania to the leaders of the main
\npolitical groups in the European Parliament. The talks were held ahead of a debate
\nin the European Parliament, scheduled for next week, on the August 10
\nanti-governmental protest in Bucharest, marked by the gendarmes’ violent
\nintervention. The Prime Minister has mentioned the economic and social measures
\nthat have been taken, that were meant to do social justice, defend the citizens’
\nrights and liberties and balance the state powers, reads a communiqu\u00e9 issued by
\nthe Government. Referring to the reforms in the field of justice, the Prime
\nMinister showed they were aimed at harmonising the Romanian legal system with
\nEuropean practices and recommendations made by the Venice Commission. The Prime
\nMinister has presented the government’s stand in order to make our European
\npartners clearly understand that the Social-Democratic government takes
\njustified decisions, in agreement with the domestic legislation and the
\nEuropean values, MEP Gabriela Zoan\u0103 said fresh from the debates in the European
\nParliament. Euractiv recalls however that the European Social-Democrats have
\nreproached Prime Minister D\u0103ncil\u0103 that the ruling Social Democratic Party is
\ndistancing itself from the European progressive line. According to the same
\nsource, Socialist MEPs have asked for more clarity on a series of issues, from
\nmajor corruption cases to the referendum of the 6th and 7th
\nof October, when Romanian voters are expected to say if they agree to revise
\nthe country’s Constitution to redefine the concept of family as being based on
\nthe marriage between a man and a woman. Euroactiv cites a Socialist MEP who
\nrecalls that the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union states
\nexplicitly that people have the right to get married without being discriminated
\nagainst based on their sexual orientation. In a Twitter post following talks
\nwith the Romanian Prime Minister, the leader of the European People’s Party
\nManfred Weber said he was worried about the situation in Romania, saying the
\nindependence of the judicial system is under pressure.<\/p>\n
\n
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\n
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Government decisions<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The government has adopted this week an emergency decree to amend the
\nlegislation regulating the insolvency procedure. The new provisions are aimed at
\nhalting certain abusive practices, such as repeated insolvency, and to ensure
\nequal chances for the development of businesses. More than 6,000 companies
\nemploying over 64,000 people are in insolvency at the moment in Romania, which
\ncalled for urgent measures, says the Finance Minister Eugen Teodorovici. The
\nlatter also said that the changes were the result of a series of dysfunctions
\nthat have appeared during the application of the previous versions of the
\ninsolvency law. The new emergency order provides for the conversion of the
\ndebts owed by companies into shares that will be taken over by the state. The
\ntax authority will come up with a clear procedure in this regard, the finance
\nminister has said. The business community has criticized the changes, speaking
\nabout masked nationalization. In another development, the government has
\nestablished that the Romanian language subject in primary schools with tuition
\nin the language of ethnic minorities will be taught by the form teacher.
\nEducation Minister Valentin Popa, who was opposed to this decision, resigned on
\nThursday. The change to the emergency decree was made at the request of the
\nDemocratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania, which has a collaboration
\nagreement with the ruling coalition formed by the Social Democratic Party and
\nthe Alliance of Liberals and Democrats. The outgoing education minister said in
\nhis resignation letter that the Romanian language and Romania are
\nnon-negotiable and that all of the country’s children must speak the Romanian
\nlanguage in order to have a chance to live and work in Romania. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
(Translated by D. Vijeu & C. Mateescu)<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A roundup of the week’s main stories<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":108,"featured_media":124454,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[40944],"tags":[42304],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-124604","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-week-in-review","tag-the-week-in-review"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n