September 12, 2017 UPDATE
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Newsroom, 12.09.2017, 19:50
MINISTERS As of Tuesday the left-wing government in Bucharest, backed by the ruling PSD-ALDE coalition, has two new ministers — Mihai Fifor left the Ministry of Economy to become Romania’s Defence Minister. In turn, MP Gheorghe Simon has taken over the vacant position at the Ministry of Economy. The two ministers were sworn in with president Klaus Iohannis attending the ceremony. Former Defence Minister Adrian Tutuianu stepped down a week ago, after Prime Minister Mihai Tudose had blamed him for the faulty communication in the issue on the Romanian servicemen’s salaries and wages. The Minister had previously announced that the military would get only salaries this month without food rations and that no insurance contribution and income taxes was to be delivered to the state budget. The announcement was denied both by the Prime Minister and the Finance Ministry who said there were no difficulties in paying salaries to army personnel. Ludovic Orban, president of the National Liberal Party in Opposition has denounced what he called the government’s unwillingness to meet their pledge of earmarking 2% of the GDP to the army. Deputy Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu served as the interim Defence Minister.
MOTION The Chamber of Deputies on Tuesday hosted debates on the simple motion tabled by the National Liberal Party and the Save Romania Union (both in opposition), against justice minister Tudorel Toader. The signatories say the amendments to the justice laws, initiated by Toader, are an attempt to cancel the progress made in the field. In his address Minister Toader said the amendments were a must because the present legislation in the field dated back to 2004 and the Higher Council of Magistrates had called for amendments since 2015. The vote on the motion is due on Wednesday, in a plenary session of the Chamber of Deputies. Vehemently criticised by civil society and the media, Toader’s draft stipulated, among others, that the country’s president will no longer nominate the chief prosecutors of the National Anti-Corruption Directorate and of the Directorate for the Investigation of Organised Crime and Terrorism, provides for subordinating the judicial inspection unit to the justice ministry and for increasing the number of years necessary to get promoted as a magistrate. At the start of the year, after the government’s attempt to change the criminal codes by an emergency ordinance, hundreds of thousands of Romanians took to the streets in Bucharest, across the country and abroad. They accused the power of trying to exonerate influential people in politics and administration from criminal liability for acts of corruption.
CAR A new version of Duster, a car produced by Romanian Carmaker Dacia, a brand owned by French giant Renault was presented at Frankfurt Motor Show on Tuesday. Launched at first under Dacia brand, since 2011 Duster has been also sold as Renault in South America. Over two million Dusters have so far been sold in more than 100 countries. The French carmaker took over the Romanian plant in 1999.
