January 22, 2020
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Newsroom, 22.01.2020, 14:00
Visit — The Romanian President Klaus Iohannis is on a visit to Israel where he met on Wednesday with the leader of the opposition Blue and White Alliance, Beny Ganz. This evening he will participate in the official dinner offered by the Israeli president Reuven Rivlin, to the more than 40 heads of delegations attending the Global Forum “Remembering Holocaust – Fighting anti-Semitism”. On Tuesday the Romanian president had talks with his Israeli counterpart whom he ensured that Romania remained fully committed to preserving the Holocaust memory, to combating anti-Semitism and preventing discrimination and any form of violence. The Romanian president’s participation in this forum is part of the actions undertaken by the Romanian state meant to promote the European values, tolerance and the respect of fundamental human rights and liberties — the Romanian presidential administration announced.
Protests – Romanian magistrates’ protests against a possible abrogation of special pensions are gaining momentum. Many courts across the country, among which the Bucharest Tribunal and Court of Appeal on Wednesday announced that they would suspend activity in court rooms for an unlimited period of time. They will deal only with those criminal cases that require preventive measures and with urgent civil cases involving minors and the provisional suspension of enforcement measures. The Chamber of Deputies will meet next week in an extraordinary session to debate a bill on the abrogation of the so-called special pensions which also benefit magistrates and which are not based on the contribution principle. The Judicial Inspection Department representatives claim that the bill on the elimination of special pensions ‘brutally’ infringes on the principles of judges’ independence and immovability as well as on articles from the Constitution and provisions of the European Court of Human Rights.
Court — Romania’s Constitutional Court is again debating today the request of the Speaker of the Senate, Teodor Melescanu, related to the resolution of a legal conflict between Parliament and the High Court of Cassation and Justice regarding the setting up of judicial panels. The Constitutional Court judges have postponed several times giving a ruling in this case. In his notification, Teodor Melescanu said that only the Parliament of Romania could establishe, according to an organic law, the way in which courts are organized and function, including the way of setting up judicial panels. The High Court of Cassation and Justice claims, however, in its opinion conveyed to the Constitutional Court, that there is no legal conflict of a constitutional nature between the two aforementioned institutions.
Virus — The World Health Organization (WHO) is today holding an emergency meeting to discuss if the new coronavirus that appeared in China one month ago, represented an international public health emergency. Cases of infection with the new virus have been reported in Thailand, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan and the US. The WHO experts are discussing the ways the new virus is transmitted among humans, how fast it is transmitted and how serious consequences are on people’s health condition. The WHO can declare the coronavirus outbreak as an international emergency and can issue travel warnings as restriction measures. In Romania, the authorities have today set up an inter-ministerial working group for the monitoring and rapid intervention in the event of coronavirus outbreaks in Romania. If such cases are identified they will be treated in hospitals from Bucharest, Iasi (northeast), Cluj (center) and Timisoara (west).
Tennis — The Romanian tennis player Sorana Cîrstea (74 WTA) was defeated today in Melbourne by the young American player Cori Gauff (67 WTA) 4-6, 6-3, 7-5, in the second round of the Australian Open, the year’s first Grand Slam tournament. The only Romanian woman player left in competition is Simona Halep, who will play on Thursday in the second round against the British Harriet Dart (173 WTA). Also today in Melbourne, the pair Horia Tecău/ Jean-Julien Rojer has qualified to the second round of the men’s doubles after defeating the pair Dominic Inglot (the UK)/Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (Pakistan) 6-1, 3-6, 6-2. In the 3rd round, Tecau and Rojer will be up against the Australians Max Purcell and Luke Saville. (translation by L. Simion)
